06 July 2021

Agency agreements: Where we are now and what’s the future for UK franchised car retailers?

An Auto Retail Live conference

Held on 18^th August 2021. Hilton Doubletree Hotel Coventry

NOW FULLY BOOKED

More brands and manufacturers are in discussions with their retailers about the shift to agency models, including Volkswagen Group, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo.  What does each brand want and how will their plans be achieved?  What is agency and what are the differences to today’s retail model?  Is it a binary choice of retail or agency or are there alternatives?  What impact will the revised block exemption have?

Auto Retail Network will be holding a half-day physical conference to explore the currently published consultative documents, including the specific items believed to be contained within, together with the future and wider implications of agency agreements for franchised retailers in the UK.

Conference agenda

Session 1. What is agency?

The difference between agency and franchised agreements. A full review of what is believed to be in the consultative documents, what are the differences between the manufacturers? What are the significant items impacting current retail networks? Potential timescales for implementation and the added implications of the Block Exemption Regulation changes.

Session lead: Iain Larkins, Radius Law

Panel: Miles Trower, TLT Solicitors. Simon Oldfield, Pimento

Session 2. What will be the impact on today’s retailer?

Future return on investment under agency. Property values. Used vehicles. F&I. The potential size and structure of manufacturers retail networks. Future staff skillset requirements.

Session Lead: Kevin Lamb, BDO

Panel: Laure Savey-Bennett, Urban Science. Mike Allen, Zeus Capital. Jayesh Jagasia, MSXI. Bill Bexson, Automotive Property.

Session 3. The retailers viewpoint. Panel discussion, Q&A

Panel: Andy Bruce. Andy Goss. Peter Smyth, Swansway Group.

Read the speaker profiles here

Audience profile: senior directors from franchised retailers, car manufacturers & NSCs plus leading suppliers to the industry.

Conference date: 18 August 2021, 08.30 – 14.00

Venue: Hilton Doubletree Hotel Coventry, just off Junction 2, M6

Ticket price: Auto Retail Network publication subscriber: £165.00 +VAT

Non-subscribers: £245.00 +VAT

Book online or email ros@auto-retail.com

For telephone bookings call Ros on 01572 724687 or 07979 651070

Conference Terms & Conditions

• Registration: 08.30-09.00
• Presentations and panel sessions commence at 09.00
• Presentations and panel sessions finish at 12.30 followed by a light lunch. Event closes at 14.00
• The audience will be limited to a maximum of 75 individuals
• All necessary steps will be taken to ensure compliance with Covid 19 Health and Safety guidelines
• If the conference is cancelled all ticket purchases will be fully refunded
• Maximum 3 tickets per company/brand

 All speakers/panellists subject to confirmation

Speaker Biographies

Conference chairman: Mike Jones, Auto Retail Network

Iain Larkins, Radius Law

Iain is the founder of Radius Law, an automotive specialist law firm.  Prior to establishing Radius Law, Iain was the Chief Legal Officer at Mercedes-Benz UK Group.

Miles Trower, TLT LLP

Miles is a partner and Head of Competition at leading national law firm, TLT LLP. He specialises in all areas of competition law, including behavioural advice, merger control, investigations and compliance programmes.
He also leads the firm’s automotive team and has extensive experience of advising on commercial and regulatory matters in the motor vehicle sector. He has managed several major investigations for household names and been involved in a number of cases at the cutting edge of competition law. He consolidates his competition focus with extensive commercial experience including on distribution, franchising, outsourcing, manufacturing and stocking finance arrangements.
Miles is a previous recipient of the NFDA’s Business Partner of the Year award for his work in the automotive sector. He is independently recognised as a leading expert in his field by industry guides Legal500 and Chambers UK.

Andy Goss

Andy Goss has been one of the most senior Brits in the Global Automotive Industry over the past two decades. Following successful roles with Toyota/ Lexus and Citroen he became the CEO of Porsche for the UK and Ireland in 1999.  After a twelve year stint there he was headhunted to lead Jaguar Land Rover’s interests in North America. Success there quickly brought promotion to the main board of JLR with responsibility for global sales and service functions.

Andy left JLR in March 2018 and is currently Chairman of Vertu Motors, in addition to his own Consultancy Company, Blue Moon Advisory. He has a keen interest and strong views on how digitisation can positively affect the Car acquisition process and is a keen proponent of On Line selling and Omni Channel activity.

Andy Bruce

Andy is highly experienced in the auto industry having held senior roles in both the OEM and retail space. He had Regional roles in Land Rover and Rover Cars and his last OEM position was U.K. Sales Director for Land Rover. He then joined Lookers and became a Board member after 18 months. The last 6 years of his tenure at Lookers was as CEO during which time the business premiumised it’s brand portfolio and grew to be the second largest motor retail group in the U.K.

Mike Allen, Zeus Capital

Mike is an experienced analyst with over 20 years of experience, having worked for UBS Global Asset Management, Numis Securities and Panmure Gordon. Since 2014 Mike has been a Board Member and Head of Research at Zeus Capital, an independent investment banking boutique. He has been heavily involved in 8 IPO transactions in excess of £2bn during this period, as well as advising/writing research across the motor industry encompassing Vertu Motors, Cambria, Lookers, Marshall Motors, Inchcape, Pendragon, Redde Northgate and BCA Marketplace when it was listed. Mike is also a board advisor to carwow, Bumper and DSG Finance.

Jayesh Jagasia, MSXI

Deeply passionate about the automotive industry, Jayesh helps leading automotive brands improve their retail performance and customer experience. His previous venture was an innovative business that aimed to radically transform the used-car purchase experience in emerging markets. Jayesh has an interest in artificial intelligence, and mobility of the future. He hosts the AI in Automotive Podcast, and is based in London.

Simon Oldfield, Pimento

Simon Oldfield has worked for over 30 years in the UK automotive industry, but is so old he can also add experience in hotels and construction to his long resume.  He has held Board-level roles at Mercedes-Benz and Vauxhall and senior positions at BMW, Hilton Hotels and at a leading civil engineering and building company.  Bringing leadership and innovation in sales, marketing and operational roles with all the OEMs he has worked with, Simon now advises a number of companies on business growth strategies, is an industry observer and has written extensively about the future of the automotive retail industry.

Laure Savey-Bennett, Urban Science

Laure is a Global Account Director at Urban Science and has over 20 years’ experience in the automotive industry, in network planning and retail performance management.  Laure has worked with many OEMs on strategic projects defining their global retail networks.

Bill Bexson, Automotive Property

Bill is embedded in the car dealership market and has led APC to become one of the UK market leaders over the last 10 years. In Investment activity APC was the top-ranked selling agent and the third positioned buying agent during 2018, 2019 and 2020 (assessed on transaction price) and top overall for buying and selling in 2019 and 2020 and overall has been involved in 45% of all car dealership investment transactions totalling circa £315 million over the last three years.

Kevin Lamb, BDO

Kevin is a member of BDO’s motor retail team supporting businesses undergoing change to improve performance and shareholder value. Following six years as finance director of a multi-franchise motor group implementing change and delivering an exit programme to ensure business continuity, Kevin returned to practice. A qualified chartered accountant, he was also UK group accountant for coffee retail giant, Starbucks responsible for financial reporting and using this data for efficiency improvements. BDO’s motor retail team advise a significant number of franchised dealerships and used-car operations. These range from single to multi-franchised and listed groups. BDO is the number one auditor to the UK’s top 150 motor retailers.