Group 1 UK ‘rebounds nicely’ in Q1 with record revenues

Group 1 UK delivered record revenues of $824.8m (£663m) in Q1, up 4.7% year on year with gross profit down -6.2% to $103.5m

Daryl Kenningham, Group 1 president and chief executive officer of the US dealer group, said the UK business had “rebounded nicely” from a challenging Q4 last year.

In January, it cut 10% of its workforce to boost the efficiency of the company.

“The team producing record quarterly revenues from parts and service and new vehicles, as well as increasing used vehicle sales volumes over 19% sequentially.

“We saw some of the benefits of our UK cost reduction efforts in the first quarter of 2024.

“However, we expect to realise the full benefit of our cost reduction efforts in the second quarter and beyond.”

While Group 1 was cutting costs in the UK in Q1 it was also teeing up a deal to buy Inchcape’s UK retail business for £346m, which was announced this month.

“We believe the UK business is well positioned and look forward to the expansion of our U.K. operations with the pending acquisition of Inchcape’s UK retail automotive business planned for Q3 2024,” said Kenningham.

In total Group 1 saw pre-tax profits fall -6.4% to $193.3m on turnover up 8.2% to $4.47bn.