Auto Retail Agenda: 18 December 2023
17 December 2023
- RETAILERS REACH OUT AFTER LOOKERS REDUNDANCIES
- STELLANTIS SWITCHES TO COUNTRY-BY COUNTRY EU AGENCY APPROACH
- RETAILERS LOSING MILLION IN ‘UNNECESSARY’ PRICE CUTS
- AUTO RETAIL LIVE ADVICE FOR 2024
- FRANCE EXCLUDES CHINA EVs FROM NEW INCENTIVES
- ASBURY TARGETS $32bn REVENUE IN 2025
- STOCKWATCH: More investor changes in major retailers
- COMING UP: UK GDP
- UK v EU ECONOMIC SPLIT
- TIME TO PAY BRITAIN’S CEOs MORE?
Retailers reach out after Lookers redundancies
Major retailers have reached out to help Lookers colleagues facing redundancy after the retailer announced a series of job cuts. It is also understood Christmas parties have also been cancelled.
Lookers was acquired by Global Auto Holdings, an Alpha Auto affiliate, for £504m in October. Earlier this month, it was announced CEO Mark Raban is leaving the group at the end of this year, along with a further 200 redundancies. More redundancies have since been announced totalling 650.
Retailers including Paul Rigby, Trust Ford, eStar, Motorpoint and Sytner have extended offers of help to affected colleagues, with many advising Lookers staff both check out their recruitment pages and contact them directly to speculatively send in their CVs.
Lookers also continues to advertise several pages of job openings in its recruitment section.
Retailers are also urging affected employees to get in touch with automotive industry charity Ben. In the latest issue of our sister title Auto Retail Profit, Ben has helped produce a feature to help those struggling at this time of year: read it here
Stellantis switches to country-by country EU agency approach
Stellantis is moving to a country-by-country approach to agency in Europe, rather than by brands. It follows “unexpected IT troubles” in September after pilot programmes in Austria and Benelux. “We are moving to a ‘vertical’ approach, all brands switching to agency at the same time, but market-by-market,” said COO Uwe Hochgeschurtz.
There will be at least three months between countries during the rollout. It will be complete by 2026 in 10 large markets.
Stellantis plans to run tests with selected retailers in each country ahead of full rollout. The tests will take six to 10 weeks.
Last Week, Auto Retail Agenda reported on new UK Stellantis boss MariaGrazia Davino’s rewritten agency plan for the group. It has been kicked down the road, with the group focusing instead on regaining trust with UK retailers.
Stellantis brands occupy eight of the bottom nine positions in the latest NFDA Survey.
The full interview is now available in the December issue of our sister title, Auto Retail Bulletin.
Retailers losing million in ‘unnecessary’ price cuts
Retailers have lost more than £32m in unnecessary used car price adjustments, says Auto Trader. Misunderstanding wholesale trends means there are more than 47,000 used cars advertised on Auto Trader, by around 8k retailers, priced under their market value. This equates to £32.7m in missed profits – or £4k per retailer.
Commercial director Ian Plummer is urging retailers to be “guided by the data”.
Auto Trader is forecasting a return to a ‘push’ model for new car sales in 2024, while used car values will stabilise thanks to a supply shortfall and robust demand.
Auto Retail Live advice for 2024
A headline end-of-year Auto Retail Live webinar saw Peter Vardy COO James Brearley, Marubeni Auto Investment COO Jason Cranswick, Swansway’s Peter Smyth and Motors COO Phill Jones deliver more than 45 minutes of invaluable advice for retailers planning for the next 12 months.
The webinar is now available in your favourite podcast service – search for Auto Retail Live – or you can watch it back here: https://ow.ly/iYug50Qj2i0
WORLD NEWS
France excludes China EVs from new incentives
France has introduced tax incentives of up to €7k (£6k) on new EVs – but the list is focused primarily on French and EU-built electric cars. EVs made in China, including the Tesla Model 3 and Dacia Spring, are not included on the list. There is also a €100 (£86) per month EV leasing scheme for low-income households.
The incentives follow a pledge by French president Emmanuel Macron to encourage consumers to ‘buy from Europe’.
Asbury targets $32bn revenue in 2025
Asbury Automotive has competed a $1.2bn acquisition of privately-held Jim Koons Automotive. It is the largest transaction in the US in 2024. It positions Asbury to overtake Group 1 Automotive and move from the fifth-largest retailer in the US to the fourth-largest.
Asbury has an acquisition strategy to become a $32bn company by the end of 2025.
STOCKWATCH
Closing prices on 15 December 2023 and weekly change
More investor changes in major retailers as Hedin reduced its stake in Pendragon from 22.9% to 19.9% over three days last week; Harwood Capital, through its Onyx Growth Fund, took a fresh 8% stake in the retailer. Cinch increased its stake in Vertu from 6% to 7%.
Auto Trader Group 697.2p (-40.8p / -5.6%)
Caffyns 550.0p (n/c)
Halfords 192.6p (-1.8p / -0.9%)
Inchcape 691.5p (+27.0p / +3.9%)
Motorpoint 92.0p (+5.6p / +6.2%)
Pendragon 32.05p (+0.1p / +0.3%)
Vertu 70.0p (+3.7p / +5.4%)
COMING UP
Wednesday, CPI and RPI
Wednesday, public sector net borrowing
Friday, UK retail sales
Friday, UK GDP
MONEY MATTERS
UK v EU economic split
Experts say the UK economy is beginning to revive – and a gulf is opening up with the EU, which is edging closer to recession. Consumer spending is rebounding with growing expectations for interest rate cuts, and robust services sector activity means new orders are growing for the first time since June.
The latest UK private sector PMI rose to 51.7; the composite PMI for the eurozone slipped to 47.0. Above the 50-point marks separates growth from contraction.
Time to pay Britain’s CEOs more?
UK directors are once again grumbling that pay for chief executives of London-listed companies is lagging international peers. Many are set in the new year to “test shareholders’ willingness to support bigger pay deals for their bosses”. Data shows a clear disparity between the UK and the US and “if you’re a global citizen and can work anywhere… then you’re going to make a global comparison, and the disparity matters”.
In 2019, the median CEO pay in the UK was $5.52m (£4.35m). In the US, it was $13.36m (£10.53m).
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