• HELSTON GROUP TURNOVER UP, PROFITS DOWN
• JOHN GROSE RESULTS AHEAD OF BUDGET
• JAGUAR I-PACE ON DEALERSHIP TOUR
• PARKS BEGINS WORK ON NEW LEEDS SHOWROOM
• PENDRAGON OPENS NEW VAN CENTRE
• GM BOSS GETS £16M PAY PACKAGE
• FERRARI PROFITS RACE AHEAD
• STOCKWATCH – Big gains for Inchcape
• LAUNCH DIARY – Mazda MX-5 and Mini Convertible specials, flagship VW Amarok
• MONEY MATTERS – May rate rise unlikely
• COMING UP – Cambria and Vertu results
• OUR BLOG – Retailers could do more to sell hybrids

Helston Group’s turnover up, profits down

South West Helston Garages Group reported pre-tax profits of £11.5 million last year on a turnover of £609m. The PBT was down from £13.7m a year ago although turnover was up from £586m.

Directors of the 37 franchise group said the results were “credible when taking into account the incredibly tough marketplace with pressures on volumes significantly impacting margins whilst costing more to deliver the volumes”.

They also pointed the dealerships’ fortunes being dependent on the support from the manufacturers which “varies from year to year and even during the year”.

John Grose group 2017 results ahead of budget

Ford, Kia and PSA retailer John Grose Group saw pre-tax profits of £2.5 million in 2017 on a turnover of £173m, down fractionally on last year but still ahead of budget.

Ian Twinley, chairman of the Suffolk-based group, said fierce competition on wholesale parts pricing by manufacturers and non-OEMs was causing pressure in the aftersales sector and recent depreciation on late, low mileage models makes holding demonstrators and company cars challenging and stock turn more difficult.

On the positive, he said finance continues to be readily available and financial institutions still regard motor cars as safe assets.

In 2017 the company received the Ford Chairman’s Award for a record 19th time.

Jaguar I-pace on dealership tour

Jaguar franchises say there is pent up demand for the I-pace all-electric SUV which is touring dealerships for one day displays.

Priced from around £65,000, Jaguar says it took 1,000 deposits even before its full reveal and has received 10,000 ‘expressions of interest’ in this country and 50,000 globally.

Matt Hill, manager at Swansway Jaguar, which showed the I-pace to around 45 invited guests at its Crewe showroom on Saturday, said: “We have taken five deposits and we expect to sell around three a month. However, we have our first demonstrator mid-summer and once people drive the car that may well change upwards.”

Parks begins work on new McLaren showroom

Parks is building McLaren’s eighth retail centre with phase one of a build programme now completed.

The showroom will be located off the M1 and alongside one of the main roads into the city, offering the visitors easy access.

Phase two will see a purpose-built 12,000 square feet showroom which is scheduled to be ready by year end.

The new location will be operated by Park’s Motor Group, which also manages McLaren Glasgow, voted the McLaren Global Retailer of the Year in 2015 and 2016.

McLaren’s other retailers are in Ascot, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Hatfield, London and Manchester.

Evans Halshaw Manchester van centre opens

Pendragon has opened a new Ford van centre at Trafford Park in Manchester under its Evans Halshaw division.

The new site has full facilities for new and used Ford LCV products including the Ranger pick-up.

Aimed at commercial and business customers, it can arrange leasing and contract hire, rental, graphic wraps and has a full workshop and bodyshop.

WORLD NEWS

GM boss gets £16 million pay package

GM chairman and CEO, Mary Barra, was paid around £16 million last year, slightly less than in 2016.

Her pay package included a salary of £1.5m, stock awards worth £7.9m, options worth £2.4 million and a performance award worth £3.6m.

GM also awarded £5.06 million to Karl-Thomas Neumann, former president of GM’s loss-making European operations, which was sold to French automaker PSA Group.

The car maker reported better than expected Q1 earnings last week.

https://reut.rs/2JZwpC9

Ferrari profit margins race forward

Ferrari has reported a better-than-expected 13% rise in first-quarter adjusted core earnings, helped by higher sales of its 12-cylinder models.

The Italian supercar maker said adjusted Q1 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to £240 million and profit margins rose to 33% from 30.

https://reut.rs/2KIluOl

STOCKWATCH

Closing prices at Friday May 4 and weekly movement.

BCA 190p (-1.0p)

Cambria 61p (-1.5p)

Caffyns 429p (no change)

Inchcape 744p (+23.0p)

Lookers 102p (+1.0p)

Marshall Motor Holdings 170p (+9p)

Motorpoint 260p (+20.0p)

Pendragon 28p (-1.0p)

Vertu 50p (no change)

LAUNCH DIARY

Mazda MX-5 RF Sport Black. Special edition limited to 300 cars and available only in a mica blue finish. £25,695 from May 28.

VW Amarok Aventura. Range-topping pick up gets 255bhp 3.0 V6 diesel and eight speed auto. Prices tbc as order books open next month.

25th Anniversary Mini Convertible. Top spec model limited to just 300 units. From £32,995.

MONEY MATTERS

Rate rise now unlikely this year, say economists

Economists expect no rate rise following weaker economic data and some predict it may be next year before they go up.

Analysts assumed the Bank of England would use a rate hike as a means of curbing consumer credit spending but worse than forecast growth projections have led many to revise their opinion.

HSBC became the latest bank to erase its solitary rate hike call for 2018, saying that likely downward revisions to the BoE’s growth forecasts in May would make it harder to justify a rate hike.

The BoE raised interest rates for the first time in a decade last November, by 25 basis points to 0.5%.

COMING UP

Tuesday – Cambria financial results

Wednesday – Vertu annual results

Thursday – Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Bank Rate

Tuesday May 15, 9am. Auto Retail Live Q2 briefing. More details here: http://www.bit.ly/2Ia1MNjbit.ly/2I

OUR BLOG

Dealers could do more to plug into hybrid demand

No two ways about, retailers in the new and used sector need to put more muscle into selling hybrids and EVs because there is an open goal at the moment just waiting for someone to score.

We are in a sort of phoney war at the moment, where AFVs are being hyped up and generating a huge amount of interest but this isn’t quite being converted into firm orders.

True, some manufacturers are still not supplying their retailers with hybrids and I know of one Fiat retailer who is tearing his hair out at the lack of opportunity to meet and satisfy customer calls about them. I dare say there are plenty more! It is equally true to say that there is not yet a plentiful supply trickling through to the used car sector.

But while mine is hardly an exhaustive or scientific study, I have mystery shopped a few showrooms, new and used, posing as a would-be customer for a second hand hybrid to see what they could offer me because I have heard a lot about them and have been scared off a diesel.

The response was not good. A surprising number don’t have a recharging facility so I couldn’t take a test drive, others said their technicians are not trained or have the equipment to do pre-sale checks on them so they don’t stock them. One was honest enough to admit that fears over battery life and any resulting nastiness after selling a used one was enough to put them off carrying any stock of hybrids.

But come on, everyone can see which way the wind is blowing and there is ample evidence of a deep well of interest, a clear potential for sales.

As the NFDA said this week, retailers need to play their part in pushing this bandwagon along.

It is a rare thing indeed for dealers to have solid opportunities in the current market and I am not convinced that enough are making the most of it.

Time to plug in?

John Swift

Editor

Auto Retail Network