Revenues crept to just over the £500m mark as Manchester-based online car publisher and marketplace Auto Trader posted its annual results this morning.
Revenues were up 16 per cent at £500.2m for the year to March 31, although pre-tax profits dipped slightly, by two per cent to £293 million.
Auto Trader said its used car Retail Price Index saw a 12 per cent like-for-like year-on-year increase in prices over the past 12 months, which has contributed to favourable trading conditions for customers, but the company warned of likely flat to low single digit growth in the year ahead.
CEO Nathan Coe said: “This year marks another strong financial and operational performance for Auto Trader. Given the challenging economic backdrop and historically low levels of vehicle supply, these results are a credit to our people and the close partnerships we’ve developed with our customers.
“The prospects for our marketplace are as strong as they have ever been, underpinned by the significant number of car buyers and retailers using Auto Trader. We have also made good progress on improving the new and used car buying experience by moving more of the journey online.
“As a result, despite continued economic uncertainty and automotive industry changes we feel confident about the year ahead.”
The company, which began life as a classified magazine in 1977 and became fully digital in 2013, also announced current Greggs chair Matt Davies would be also be joining Auto Trader as chair.