Fast-growing Swindon vehicle dealership group Cambria Automobiles is on the lookout for further acquisitions after its half-year pre-tax profits accelerated by 64% on strong new car sales.
The ambitious group, which recently bought TH White’s Royal Wootton Bassett Land Rover dealership for £7.56m, clocked up profits of £3.3m on revenues up 18.6% to £242.8m in the six months to February 28. The directors have plans to grow the group to annual sales of £1bn. 
New vehicle sales in the half year rose by 15.6% – almost double the growth rate in the UK new car market – while used cars sales were up 2.9% with an 8.2% improvement in profit per unit. Aftersales revenue also increased – by 6.2% – with gross profit improvement of 6.9%.
Chief executive Mark Lavery said the group, which was established in 2006, continued to look for further growth opportunities, particularly in the luxury and premium markets – although it wanted to maintain its balanced portfolio by also expanding in the volume market.
The TH White deal followed its first Land Rover franchise acquisition in Barnet last July. Such takeovers, said Mr Lavery, aligned with the strategy the group laid out in 2013; “namely to invest in premium and luxury franchises that fit with our geographical locations and deliver immediate earnings enhancement.
“The board continues to focus on opportunities to strengthen the group’s position in luxury and premium brands and is actively pursuing acquisition opportunities which have the potential to fulfil these ambitions.”
He said Cambria’s success in turning around underperforming dealerships had enabled it to build a strong balance sheet.
“As a result, as well as looking at the acquisition of underperforming dealerships, the group is now in a position to consider acquisitions which are earnings enhancing from the outset, further strengthening Cambria’s brand portfolio mix and progressing towards its stated ambition to create a Group with annual revenues of over £1bn,” he added.
The group now owns 29 dealerships, representing 46 franchises and 18 brands, in a balanced portfolio spanning the high luxury, premium and volume segments and spread from the North West through the Midlands, to the South East and South West, trading under local brand names such as County Motor Works, Grange, Invicta and Motorparks – including Swindon Motor Park.
Its brand portfolio spans Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin, to Honda, Jaguar, Vauxhall and Volvo.
It said it expects the TH White acquisition to be immediately earnings enhancing
Trading in the key plate change month of March was ahead of plan, said Mr Lavery.
“The UK market has now enjoyed 36 months of year-on-year growth in new car registrations to the end of February 2015 and this momentum was maintained during the crucial plate change month of March, which produced the largest number of new car registrations since the twice yearly plate change was introduced in 1999.
“The current Economic landscape with low interest rates and a favourable exchange rate against the euro is allowing vehicle manufacturers to continue to deliver strong consumer offers, which represent attractive propositions for guests to acquire new cars. Manufacturers continue to have both vehicle availability and strong consumer offers and so we expect that volumes in the new car market in the UK will remain robust.”
He said the board was confident that Cambria would maintain this momentum and continue to deliver an improved performance across all its activities.
