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The just published Motor Trader Top 200 Dealer Groups reveals the businesses delivering the highest return on sales across the sector.
CEM Day tops the rankings once again with a return on sales of 12.7%. The company explained this performance in last year’s MT Top 200 as a result of diversity encompassing vans, car and van hire, HP and leasing financing, and two dedicated used car outlets.
In second place was Currie Motors with a return on sales of 5.8% followed by the factory-owned Porsche Retail Group, which hit the ground running at 5.4%.
“Many of the same groups appear in the sub-table for return on sales year after year. There are, though, fewer of these incumbents this year, only 14 compared to 24 last year.
“Clearly, juggling gross margins, escalating expenses and overheads, and lack of stock have taken a toll,” said Motor Trader Top 200 report author Chris Oakham.
“Nevertheless, four groups have managed to grace this sub-table for ten years or more including: McClean & Appleton (49); CEM Day; FRF South Wales (133); and Mitchell Group (171),” he said.
The straight average return on sales for the whole MT Top 200, including estimates, was slightly down on last year at 2.3%, but still the second highest in the last 10 years.
(Photo: Google)
| Company/ Group | Latest Turnover (£000) | Latest Pre-tax Profit (£000) | Return on Sales (%) |
| CEM Day | 257,577 | 32,790 | 12.7% |
| Currie Motors | 432,004 | 25,179 | 5.8% |
| Porsche Retail Group | 421,698 | 22,566 | 5.4% |
| Right Car | 63,783 | 3,372 | 5.3% |
| Thames Motor Group | 73,992 | 3,761 | 5.1% |
| Mitchell Group | 53,568 | 2,587 | 4.8% |
| L&L Inc | 117,424 | 5,633 | 4.8% |
| EMG Anglia | 119,265 | 5,594 | 4.7% |
| Cambria Automobiles | 566,166 | 26,184 | 4.6% |
| Cars 2 | 168,021 | 7,597 | 4.5% |
| Note: 1.) This table is based solely on those businesses for which figures were available excluding estimates. |
| 2.) This tables only includes those groups reporting reporting from June 2022. |
| 3.) These results do not generally take account of exceptional profits, although some |
| groups were excluded where particularly large ‘exceptionals’ were noted. |