Vertu Motors posts constructive begin, regardless of Motability and used automotive headwinds
Vertu has seen encouraging ends in the brand new automotive market and it continues to have a resilient aftersales efficiency, regardless of Motability and used automotive headwinds
The group has posted a market replace for the primary three months of its new monetary yr, the place it noticed new automotive retail volumes up 7% year-on-year and market share beneficial properties serving to offset harder situations elsewhere.
Used automotive volumes fell 3.8% amid tight provide and weaker demand, however improved margins lifted gross revenue. Fleet and business gross sales rose 3%, and high-margin aftersales income grew 4.1%, pushed by an ageing automobile parc and ongoing service initiatives.
Motability volumes declined 23.2%, partially on account of decrease availability from conventional producers, whereas the Group famous broader market shifts post-Covid.
Robert Forrester, Vertu chief govt, stated: “Because the starting of the monetary yr, a interval which incorporates the essential buying and selling month of March, the group has traded properly in a difficult macro-economic setting.
“New retail volumes are up materially with the group benefiting from market share beneficial properties and our excessive margin aftersales enterprise continues its out-performance.
“This encouraging begin to the yr is balanced by ongoing headwinds of a difficult client and enterprise setting and the Authorities’s ZEV mandate selling accelerated electrical automotive adoption.”
Vertu’s share buyback programme of £12 million capability, introduced in February 2025, has continued all through the three month interval with £4.5m of the programme utilised so far within the buy of seven.8m shares for cancellation, leaving £7.5m to deploy.
Because the group began its share buyback programme in FY18, 18.5% of the Group’s issued share capital has been repurchased.
Vertu continues to be acquisitive and stated it’s “properly positioned with secure administration and a really sturdy stability sheet with low gearing to benefit from alternatives as they come up”.
