Auto Trader revenues rise, sees recovery in new car sales

Auto Trader reported a slight fall in half-year profits after booking a rise in costs associated with its takeover of car leasing website Autorama, but posted a 16% rise in revenues.

In the six months ended to September 30, the car retailer made revenue of £249.8m. Operating profit fell to £149m from £151.7m a year ago.

Auto Trader said its operating profit margin for the full year was expected to be in line with financial year 2022 and added that Autorama was likely to make an operating loss of around £11m for the full year, with continued supply challenges across all vehicle types resulting in lower delivery volumes.

“The outlook for future years is necessarily more uncertain, however the used car market is far less cyclical than the new car market and new car registrations are expected to recover, currently being at their lowest level in 30 years,” said chief executive Nathan Coe.

“We believe that there are significant opportunities for Auto Trader to grow revenue at high margins through our price and product levers and will continue to bring more of the car buying journey online through Deal Builder and Autorama.”

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com