Peter Vardy profits soar 56% 20 | 07 | 2016
SCOTLAND’S MOST INNOVATIVE car dealership group, Peter Vardy, has seen profits leap by 56% in 12 months to £12.1 million. The results come after the Glasgow-based group focused on manufacturing relationships, digital opportunities and delivery of its vision to be “the best place to work and the best place to buy”.
While turnover for Peter Vardy Group Holdings increased by 11% to £437.2m (£393.5m in 2014), to the year ended December 31, 2015, operating profits before amortisation and donations topped £12.1m, up from £7.8m in 2014. No dividend was paid.
Underlying returns on sales, a key motor industry benchmark, was up from 2.0% last year to 2.7%. The industry average for the same period was 1.22%. Yet more strikingly, average profit per dealership at Peter Vardy was £1.012m compared to an industry average in 2015 of £197,000.
Peter Vardy has invested heavily in state of the art premises to support internal and manufacturer growth plans over the next five years. During 2015 it invested £6m in Porsche Aberdeen while a new Jaguar Land Rover showroom in the city is scheduled to open next month.
Related: Peter Vardy appoints new MD
“The Group is performing ahead of its 2020 strategy after the first year and has focused its actions on six key objectives,” Peter Vardy, CEO, said. “These are colleague engagement; customer, or guest as defined in our business, satisfaction; developing manufacturer relationships; achieving financial performance targets; evolving digital strategies, and giving 10% of profits back to charity.”
Colleague engagement continues to be the Group’s leading key performance indicator with “90% of colleagues proud to work for the Peter Vardy Group and more than 80% planning to remain with the Group in three years’ time”.
In June 2016, the Peter Vardy Group distributed share options to its 800 employees as part of its Peter Vardy Partnership Programme.
In its drive to evolve its digital status, the business saw annual website visits surpass 2.7m, an increase of 38% on the previous year. This translated into 72,000 digital enquiries.
Peter Vardy Group operates six Vauxhall volume dealerships in Aberdeen, Perth, Kirkcaldy, Edinburgh, Motherwell and Dalgety Bay.
In addition, it operates five prestige dealerships selling Jaguar, Land Rover, Porsche or BMW-Mini vehicles as well as Scotland’s biggest indoor used car showroom, CarStore, at Hillington, Glasgow. Another CarStore supermarket is set to open in Dundee.
Related: Peter Vardy staff set for £5m boost
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Jim McGill