Motorpoint Group PLC (LSE:MOTR, OTC:MTPTF), the seller of nearly-new vehicles, said full-year profit before tax will be significantly ahead of previous expectations.
The company said revenue and profits in the six months to the end of September hit record levels.
Revenue rose 56.1% to £605.2mln from £387.7mln the year before while profit before tax jumped 39.2% to £13.5mln from £9.7mln.
The company said despite the ongoing constriction in the supply of new vehicles, which is expected to continue into 2022 and beyond, in recent weeks it has been able to access more stock to satisfy customer demand, both online and in its branches. “This increased demand reinforces our belief that our customer-centric, omnichannel proposition remains the most appropriate business model for the used car market,” Motorpoint said.
Shares in the retailer dipped 1.1% to 353p as the company announced the imminent retirement of its non-executive chair, Mark Morris, who will leave the company in January 2022.
John Walden will join the group as the new chair on 10 January 2022. Walden is currently chair of Snowfox Topco Ltd, the ultimate parent company of the Yo! group and the Snowfox Group. Previously he was chair of Naked Wines PLC (AIM:WINE, OTCQX:NWINF), chair of the parent company of Holland & Barrett International Ltd and the chief executive of Argos and its parent company Home Retail Group Plc (LSE:HOME).
"The first half of the year marked a record performance for the group. While we have naturally benefited from favourable market conditions, we have also had to contend with unprecedented vehicle inflation and widely documented shortages in available stock which undoubtedly limited our revenue and profit growth. In the end, it is our market share gains which demonstrate the unique strengths of our model,” said Mark Carpenter, the chief executive officer of Motorpoint.
"During the period we continued to invest in future growth with strong progress made on our medium-term strategic targets as we execute on our goal of at least doubling revenue to over £2bn in the medium term,” Carpenter said.