Motorline 2020 profit swells 74% despite Covid
20 September 2021
Motorline Holdings has reported a £6.1m profit before tax, including £7.1m in government grants, for the year ended December 2020, up from a profit of £2.8m in 2019. Turnover fell slightly from £717m to £695m and ordinary dividends of £1m, up from £600k in 2019, were paid to directors.
The £7.1m in grants related mainly to the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. This helped Motorline “minimise redundancies and retain staff in addition to the rates relief that was available during lockdown”. Following the first lockdown, the business successfully reopened in June 2020.
Motorline withdrew from the Renault franchise during 2020, which it says predominately explains the 3% fall in turnover and 12% fall in gross profit. The business invested in Audi instead, including the relocation of its Audi Canterbury site, which it says significantly improved operating profit.
The business also redeveloped a vacant site in Crawley on behalf of a third party tenant. This was sold to an investment company for £9.4m, resulting in profit before tax of £3.7m.The directors admit some concerns over vehicle stock availability for the balance of 2021, but are still confident of achieving a strong FY 2021 result “that exceeds the 2020 performance”.
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