08 April 2018

• PAY GAP DATA REVEALS MIXED RESULTS IN AUTO RETAIL
• PROFITS HALVED AT ESSEX-BASED MULTI-FRANCHISE GROUP
• KENT-BASED USED CAR GROUP FIFTH FASTEST PROFIT GROWTH
• NEW FD FOR DICK LOVETT
• NEW MODELS AND AWARDS TO BOOST 2018 SALES, SAYS VOLVO DEALER
• HR OWEN ROLLS-ROYCE GLOBAL DEALER OF THE YEAR
• ‘TROJAN HORSE’ WARNING ON CARBON TAX
• STOCKWATCH – Motorpoint grows
• LAUNCH DIARY – New Focus on way
• MONEY MATTERS – CBI rubbishes Levy
• COMING UP – Used car conference
• OUR BLOG – Is the showroom picture better than Q1 stats suggest?

Pay gap data reveals mixed results in auto retail

Dealer groups are under pressure to equalise the male/female pay gap as UK industry is revealed to have among the worst gender differential of any EU country.

At the moment, the UK average sees a woman paid around 80p for every £1 earned by a male colleague. It is against the law for a company to pay a man or woman a lower rate for an equal job done by a colleague of the opposite sex.

Data shows that the average pay gap at the national level is 18.4%, 78% of companies pay women less than men and women make up just 7% of higher paid jobs.

A spot-check of the largest auto retail groups has revealed Vertu and Sytner pay on average their female employees 27% less. At Arnold Clark the difference is 11%, Inchcape and Marshall Motor Group are at 5%, Lookers 3% and at Pendragon the gap is just 2.6%.

Companies, charities and public sector organisations with more than 250 employees had to submit their pay structure by Wednesday last week. Those not meeting the deadline will be contacted next week by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission and could face fines for non-compliance.

Profits halved at Essex-based multi-franchise group

MJT Securities, parent company of Essex-based Toomey motor group, reported a 51% drop in post-tax profits last year of £1.3 million against £2.7 million in 2016.

Turnover at its Vauxhall, Renault, Dacia, Nissan, Citroen, Peugeot and MG dealerships dropped from £170 million to £164 million.

Directors blamed the general drop off across the trade in Q4 2017 and continuing fears over diesel for the slide.

It is looking at a restructuring of staff and operations but says despite the `subdued’ market it should return to previous levels of profitability.

Kent-based used car group fifth fastest profit growth

Kent-based Big Motoring World has been named as the fifth fastest growing private company in the Sunday Times Power Track 100.

The used car operation showed annual profit growth of 128 per cent with a 2017 profit of £7.2 million.

The company employs 171 and has sold more than 145,000 cars since being set up in 1986.

New FD for Dick Lovett

John Moulton, Dick Lovett’s long-standing finance director, has retired after 18 years at the group. Mr Moulton has been succeeded by Julian Winterburn who was previously European finance boss at engineering firm Praxair.

New models and awards to boost 2018 sales, says Volvo dealer

A Volvo dealer reported its best ever launch event for the new XC40 mid-range SUV and says it and another newcomer due this summer will boost 2018 sales.

David Dillon, Franchise Director of Holdcroft Volvo in Stoke-on-Trent, said: “We had a record turnout for our showroom launch event of the new XC40 and sold seven cars on the night! This is unprecedented and initial demand for this car is substantially higher than available supply for the full year.”

Mr Dillon added: “2018 is clearly a very exciting period for everyone involved with Volvo. The What Car? Car of the Year and the European Car of the Year wins for the new XC40 being just the start of what will be a very busy period for Volvo dealerships. To follow this award winning car with the accolade of World Car of the Year for XC60 will also lead us nicely to the launch of our next SPA platform car, the new V60, that will enjoy its dealer launch in mid-July. The new V60 plays to our strength in the estate space, yet builds on the excellent SPA platform, showing a very new face for Volvo. This will complete a full overhaul of the Volvo Car range that is now unrecognisable from the previous generation of cars and puts us on the consideration list of a whole new audience that may not have considered Volvo in years gone by.”

HR Owen Rolls-Royce global dealer of the year

HR Owen Rolls-Royce Motor Cars London has been voted Global Dealer of the Year by the manufacturer.

The award, open to every Rolls-Royce dealer around the world, is awarded on KPIs across the entire business and is measured by Rolls-Royce Headquarters throughout the year. The dealership recorded more than 100 per cent in all areas.

A spokesman said: “This most recent award strengthens H.R. Owen’s position as one of the leading luxury and supercar dealer groups in the world, adding to the list of award-winning dealerships that include Ferrari and Lamborghini.”

WORLD NEWS

‘Trojan Horse’ warning on carbon tax

European car makers face a `Trojan Horse’ threat of being broken by carbon dioxide fines leaving the field clear for Chinese manufacturers to capitalise on their lead in electrification.

PSA Group chief executive, Carlos Tavares, is now calling for EU governments to roll back the proposed fines until a genuinely practical network of recharging points is in place so drivers can switch from internal combustion cars to electric.

Warning that the fine structure for missing CO2 targets due to come into effect in 2020 could bring a car maker `to its knees’, Tavares said the issue had not been properly thought through by EU legislators.

https://reut.rs/2GIt9hx

STOCKWATCH

Caffyns 400p (no change)

Cambria 62 p (no change)

Inchcape 707.50p (+2.39%)

Lookers 92.10p (+1.32%)

Marshalls 161.50p (no change)

Motorpoint 218p (+8.1%)

Pendragon 26.45p (+2.52%)

Vertu 45.95p (+1.77%)

LAUNCH DIARY

All-new Ford Focus is due to be revealed this week with more up-market styling and detailing inside and out. The engine range will almost certainly include Ford’s 1.0-litre three cylinder unit and entry prices should be around £16,000.

Jaguar F-Type.  Updated 2019MY gets a bigger infotainment screen, special paint options and torque vectoring across the range. Prices start from £50,810 for the entry level 2.0-litre F-Type Coupe. Deliveries start in May.

VW T-Roc. Four new model variants from £26,450 are now open to order with first deliveries in June.  They are the 1.5 TSI EVO 150 PS in six-speed manual or seven speed DSG, 2.0 TSI 190 PS 4MOTION with DSG and the T-Roc 2.0 TDI 150 PS 4MOTION  manual.

Skoda Superb SportLine Plus available to order from £29,330 (hatch) and £30,645 (estate). First deliveries late June. It has extra equipment over the standard SportLine model for a premium of £1,500, a 40 per cent saving over the individual option costs.

SsangYong Musso pick-up. It has a Euro pallet sized load deck, one tonne payload and 3.5 tonne towing capability. UK spec/pricing to be confirmed before summer deliveries.

Mazda3 Sport Black limited edition. On sale from this week at £21,595 with a production run of just 700. It has styling tweaks and enhanced spec.

MONEY MATTERS

Apprenticeship levy ‘not fit for purpose’, says CBI

The CBI is calling on government to urgently review the apprenticeship levy it says is not fit for purpose a year after it was launched.

Companies with a wage bill of more than £3 million have to pay 0.5 per cent of their payroll costs to the scheme.

The levy is supposed to raise £3 billion a year which companies can apply to for training funds.

Recent figures from the Department of Education showed apprenticeships plunging by a quarter.

 

COMING UP

Monday: FCA business plan for 2018/19

Wednesday: UK trade figures for February

Wednesday, 25 April: Auto Retail Network Used Car Conference http://bit.ly/2DTBdL1

OUR BLOG

Is the showroom picture better than Q1 stats suggest?

Is the trade in a bout of self-denial over the Q1 registrations and trying to put on a brave face on what appear to be some pretty dismal registration figures?

Or are dealers actually holding up better than expected?

The SMMT’s first quarter data showed a 12% January-March drop and a 16% fall in March against last year.

These have been blamed variously on the pre-April ’17 rush to beat the VED increase, Brexit, the Beast from the East keeping buyers indoors instead of showrooms, on worries over the interest rate hikes which have to come at some stage and a general slowdown in spending. After all, who wants to be locked into a PCP when your mortgage is about to go up?

And yet, look a bit deeper and a different picture emerges.

OK, diesel got hammered which is hardly a surprise. Petrol remained flat and consumers are waiting for the recharging infrastructure to catch up with a lot of latent demand before jumping into EVs in significant numbers.

It all looks a bit grim but the word from the coal face is that despite press reports talking down the market dealers seem to be doing alright, better than expected in fact in some cases.

Ones I’ve spoken to say they have come very close to, or met, their Q1 targets. Now, either those targets are very low or the showroom footfall is still strong.

Even allowing for a degree of ‘talking-up’ the market, the general impression is of a trade where demand is surprisingly resilient.

It may involve discounting and being fast on their feet but sales staff are still closing deals and getting the business done and those vital Q1 bonuses should be coming through.

Tags: Abarth, Fiat, holdcroft, Inchcape, Jaguar Land Rover, JCT600, pay, SMMT, Volvo