Marshall Motor hails 'record' H1 amid buoyant used car market

In the six months to 30 June, the automotive retailer swung to a reported profit of £39.5m from a loss of £10.7m in the first half of 2020, with revenues up 49% at £1.3bn.

Marshall said there had been a strong like-for-like market outperformance across new vehicles - both retail and fleet - and used vehicles. New vehicle unit sales rose 46.1% versus overall market registrations up 39.2%, while used unit sales were up 51.7% versus overall used market unit sales up 31 .1%.

Meanwhile, aftersales revenues rose 34.8% during the half.

Chief executive Daksh Gupta said: "The group's record performance in the first half of the year was exceptional. Whilst we acknowledge that this has been largely driven by unprecedented market conditions, particularly the used car market, we are proud of the contribution of our operational teams across the country for another period of strong market outperformance.

"There remains a high level of uncertainty over the second half of 2021 and into 2022 given well documented vehicle supply issues, an expected realignment of used vehicle values (the timing of which is uncertain) and the continuing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Given these uncertainties, there remains a range of possible outcomes for the year, however, the board expects that continuing underlying profit before tax for 2021 will be not less than £40m."

Marshall Motor’s results came alongside data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) which showed that used car sales in the UK more than doubled year-on-year in the last few months. The used car market grew 108.6% in the second quarter, with more than 2.2m vehicles changing hands.