Dealer conglomerate Group 1 Automotive reported record profits in 2023 but expects to cut its UK workforce to improve cost efficiency.
The dealer group generated annual revenue of $17.9 billion, an increase of 10.2%, with sales of 363,222 new and used vehicles and significant contributions from finance and fixed operations businesses. Full-year gross profit exceeded $3 billion, an increase of 1.9% from the previous year. Both amounts are record highs for Group 1 Automotive, driven by a particularly strong fourth quarter, with the brand reporting sales of $4.5 billion (up 10.1%) and $730.6 million (up 1.6%), respectively. ) have become.
Group 1 Automotive attributes its 2023 financial success to its parts and services business, which generated $1.2 billion in profit and accounted for approximately 40% of the company's annual gross profit. The dealer group also recorded $3.1 billion in revenue from its UK operations, another record amount.
Despite its ultimate success overseas, the brand has announced that it will begin making UK job cuts within the first three months of 2024. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the company began “rebalancing” its used car inventory to address the decline in used car demand. car of that country. As a result, Group 1 Automotive suffered losses on used car sales from October to December, and he expects this trend to continue until 2024. To offset the drop in profits, the dealer group plans to make 10% of its UK team redundant, affecting around 300 companies. Employees in his first quarter of 2024.
