Cambria Automobiles sees profits rise 37% to £12.5m

Cambria Automobiles turned in a strong performance in the year to 31 August with pre-tax profit up 37.4% to £12.5m on turnover up 4.4% to £657.8m.

The company has changed the profile of the brands it represents over the past two years, adding two Bentley dealerships, one Lamborghini and one McLaren dealership.

The group saw a like-for-like reduction in new car sales of 15.3% but it saw a 40.3% in profit per unit helped by the move upmarket, and the reduction in lower margin fleet business.

Like for like used car sales rose 1.4% over the period with a 7% improvement in profit per unit. Like for like aftersales revenues increased 5.1%.

Cambria Automobiles CEO Mark Lavery said: “Our greater exposure to the high luxury segment has driven the earnings capacity of the group and the increased new car department profit is a reflection of our significantly enhanced property portfolio and diversified brand mix.

“On a general note and in line with my commentary last year, the year has seen a difficult new car market that has been impacted by weakening consumer demand in the face of the uncertainty around the Brexit negotiations, inconsistent messaging around the future of diesel engines and the impact on car supply from the change in emissions testing.

“The challenges facing vehicle manufacturers in achieving compliance with the 2020 and 2021 CO2 emissions targets will impact the new car market over the next two years.”

New Dealerships Timeline

• Barnet Jaguar Land Rover in July 2014
• Swindon Land Rover in April 2015
• Welwyn Garden City Land Rover in January 2016
• Aston Martin Birmingham in May 2016
• Woodford Jaguar Land Rover in July 2016
• Bentley in Essex and Kent in January 2018
• McLaren in Hatfield in January 2018
• Lamborghini in Chelmsford in April 2018
• Lamborghini in Tunbridge Wells in November 2018
• Refranchising Vauxhall and Peugeot into Warrington
• Refranchising Citroen into Oldham
• Refranchising Suzuki into Maidstone