Auto Trader’s revenue jumps as booming market place gets double-digit boost
Auto Trader’s group revenue has jumped 16 per cent as a result of a double-digit growth in its marketplace business.
In the six months ended 30 September, the car retailer posted a £249.8m revenue, up from last year’s £215.4m.
While Auto Trader’s marketplace posted an 11 per cent increase in revenue, going up to £238.2m.
Excluding the costs derived from the takeover of car leasing website Autorama – whose deferred charge for the period stood at £13.8m – the group’s operating profit and earnings per share went up 7 and 8 per cent respectively.
“Our first half results demonstrate the strength of our position with car buyers and the depth of partnership we are building with customers,” said chief executive Nathan Coe.
“Achieving this in a period impacted by high levels of economic uncertainty is a credit to both our people and customers, and provides confidence in navigating the rest of the year.”
Despite being down on last year’s levels, cross platform visits and minutes – at 67.7 million visits and 498 million minutes per month – were significantly up on pre-pandemic levels.
Looking ahead, the retailer remained confident about the second half trading due to consistent trading throughout last month and a belief that margins can be maintained at 70 per cent despite inflation.
“Longer-term we are well placed to grow as we further develop the core Auto Trader business, extend it to enable car buyers to complete more of their purchase online, and provide the industry-leading data and technology platform for our customers,” Coe added.