Auto Trader share price soars after profit and revenue jump
Profit and revenue jumped at Auto Trader as the firm benefited from continued “robust” demand in the used car market.
In the year to March the car trader saw revenue increase by 14 per cent, from £500.2m to £570.9m. Average revenue per retailer rose 12 per cent, driven by “continued uptake of additional products and services”.
This helped the firm’s pretax profit climb 18 per cent to £345.2m from £293.6m.
Shares in the firm were up over 11 per cent shortly after the open.
Auto Trader said that its competitive position strengthened over the year, with record numbers of buyers and sellers. The firm is now 10 times larger than its largest competitor.
Despite the strong performance, the company noted that there were significant differences in demand for new and used cars.
“The used car retail market has been robust throughout the financial year, which we expect to continue. Demand is resilient with cars continuing to sell faster than before the pandemic and used car supply has gradually improved,” the firm said.
“The new car retail market has been more challenging and discounting has started to return. We are well placed to support the structural changes in this market, which remains a significant opportunity,” Auto Trader continued.
On the back of its results, it proposed a final dividend of 6.4p per share, bringing its total dividend for the year to 9.6p per share. This was up from 8.4p per share last year.
Auto Trader said the new financial year has “started well”. It said that it expects operating losses at Autorama, which was acquired back in 2022, to reduce year-on-year.
Autorama, a large digital leasing market, recorded an operating loss of £8.8m in 2024, narrowed from £11.2m the year before.
Nathan Coe, chief executive officer said: “We are confident in our prospects for the year ahead and, in the longer term, we see significant opportunities to continue growing our marketplace and to move more of the car buying process online, on Auto Trader”.