• VERTU DOWN 30% BUT ‘BATTLING HARD’ IN LOCKDOWN
• CARSEARCH AIMS TO BOOST FRANCHISED USED CAR OPERATIONS
• LOOKERS STOCKPORT IS KIA DEALER OF THE YEAR
• GATES FORD DONATES COMPUTERS TO SCHOOL
• AUTO1 TARGETS Q1 PUBLIC LISTING
• STELLANTIS BECOMES WORLD’S FOURTH-LARGEST AUTOMAKER
• STOCKWATCH – Halfords reports huge growth in Autocentres businesses, with a strong contribution from mobile repair vans
• COMING UP – GFK consumer confidence
• CHANCELLOR URGED TO EXTEND BUSINESS RATES HOLIDAY
• CARWOW BORROWS £10m AT 10%

Vertu down 30% but ‘battling hard’ in lockdown

Robert Forrester has estimated Vertu sales are down around 30% during the January lockdown but said the retailer is “battling hard” to maintain trade.

Over the weekend, Mr Forrester said the group is selling more than 2,000 retail cars a week through click and collect without anyone visiting a showroom prior to sale. “Our tech and trained sales teams are doing a job unimaginable this time last year.” The retailer has also launched free delivery on new and used cars within 30 miles of each dealership.

Click and collect has received official approval with the Scottish government confirming to the NFDA that click and collect sales can continue. Outdoor vehicle lots can remain open after retailers demonstrated they can operate on a Covid-secure way.

Last week, it emerged that OEMs are battling numerous challenges too. JLR confirmed a two-week shutdown of its Jaguar Castle Bromwich factory because of staff shortages due to Covid, while Nissan and Honda have suffered because of a shortage of semiconductors – an issue that is also causing production halts at a growing number of European plants. Audi, in announcing its own production delays, has described the shortages as a “crisis upon a crisis”.

In other Covid news, Kent Police fined a man £200 after driving from Sussex to Riverhead (a journey of around 50 miles) for looking at cars outside a garage.

http://bit.ly/2M2xH5y

 

 

Carsearch aims to boost franchised used car operations

A new company is looking to give franchised retailers’ used car operations a boost with a combination of new technology and real-world experience.

Carsearch 2020 has been formed with the aim of keeping more, older, used cars in franchised networks to help raise profitability. Alongside using a system that scrapes the internet for private car sellers, contacts those sellers and puts them in touch with franchised retailers looking for stock Carsearch 2020 also helps retailers generate showroom and servicing activity.

Founded by experienced retailer Andy Doyle, the CarSearch scraping system is able to find vehicles being privately offered for sale under criteria set by the retailer. The sellers are then contacted by Carsearch’s automated text system and encouraged to book an appointment at the retailer to complete the sale.

Mr Doyle, said this had a 15-18% success rate in appointment bookings from a scraping search.

 

Lookers Stockport is Kia Dealer of the Year

Kia has 190 retailers in the UK and Lookers Stockport has emerged top in its Dealer Excellence Awards 2020, ahead of Boongate Peterborough and Burton Kia. The retailer also won the Sales Excellence Award (for the third time in four years), while Premier Automotive Rochdale won the After Sales Excellence Award. Ken Jarvis Stoke-on-Trent won the Customer Experience Award. “These awards are testament to the strength, dedication and customer focus of the Kia dealer network,” said Kia Motors UK president and CEO Paul Philpott.

 

Gates Ford donates computers to school

Gates Ford has donated 10 PCs to a local Welwyn Garden City primary school. “As a family business, we understand the difficulties that home-schooling can present,” said joint MD Darren Cooper. Headteacher Karen Cayford said the donation will help families better access remote learning from home.

http://bit.ly/2LW2QIb

 

 

WORLD NEWS

Auto1 targets Q1 public listing

German online car marketplace Auto1 Group plans to go public in Q1 2021. It aims to raise €1bn from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange IPO and intends to reinvest €750m to grow the business. Auto1 generated revenue of €3.5bn and has sold 615k cars since being founded in 2012. Japanese conglomerate Softbank invested €460m in 2018, taking a 20% stake and valuing the company at €2.9bn.

http://bit.ly/3sFWsWr

 

Stellantis becomes world’s fourth-largest automaker

FCA and PSA completed a $52bn merger over the weekend to become Stellantis, the world’s fourth-largest automaker. The combined group will have annual sales of around 8.1 million vehicles. PSA CEO Carlos Tavares has become Stellantis CEO and will hold his first press conference on Tuesday.

http://bit.ly/2NdJ9fu

 

 

STOCKWATCH

Closing prices on 15 January 2021 and weekly change

Halfords reports huge growth in Autocentres businesses, with a strong contribution from mobile repair vans

Auto Trader Group 566.0p (-29.0p / -4.9%)

Cambria 55.0p (-3.5p / -6.1%)

Caffyns 385.0p (n/c)

Halfords 299.0p (+3.5p / +1.7%)

Inchcape 652.0p (-7.5p / -1.2%)

Lookers Shares suspended at 21.0p

Marshall Motor Holdings 129.5p (-2.0p / -1.5%)

Motorpoint 298.0p (+13.0p / +4.4%)

Pendragon 13.1p (+0.3p / +2.3%)

Vertu 33.2p (-0.35p / -1.0%)

 

 

COMING UP

Tuesday, RPI and CPI

Friday, GFK consumer confidence

Tuesday 9 February, Auto Retail Live with Inchcape UK CEO James Brearley, JLR UK MD Rawdon Glover and Auto Trader commercial director Ian Plummer. Sign up here

 

MONEY MATTERS

Chancellor urged to extend business rates holiday

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is being urged to extend the business rates holiday in his March Budget. An influential group of 65 Conservative MPs called the Northern Research Group says the support will help businesses which face a series of ‘cliff edges’ in the coming months as support programmes come to an end. Ralph Findlay, boss of pub chain Marstons, said extending the business rates holiday and VAT relief measures throughout 2021 is the “minimum requirement”.

http://bit.ly/2XQQzHs

 

Carwow borrows £10m at 10%

Carwow drew down a £10m venture debt facility on 17 April 2020 on a 36-month term at 10% interest. This has helped the board demonstrate in a downside scenario analysis the group will have sufficient cash resources for at least one year, even in a prolonged lockdown of 3-6 months. The borrowing was revealed in Carwow’s annual results for the year ended 31 December 2019, in which revenue decreased from £16.9m to £15.3m, and loss before tax fell from £15.2m to £13.8m.