Sales boost at Colebrook & Burgess car dealer
Jul 29 2010 by Peter McCusker, The Journal
AUDI dealer Colebrook & Burgess says the strength of the brand and a return of consumer confidence is boosting sales and profitability in 2010, although it remains cautious in what is still a tricky motor retail market.
Figures just released by the company show it recorded annual sales of £112m in 2009 with pre-tax profits climbing to £792,000.
While sales in 2009 were slightly down on 2008, the year saw it return to the black after a pre-tax loss of £446,000 in the previous 12 months.
Managing director Andrew Maidwell said the dealership, which has outlets in Newcastle, North Tyneside, Sunderland and Stockton, is performing ahead of last year. He said: “We have had a strong first half of 2010 with increased sales of both new and used cars and we are ahead of where we were in June last year.”
He went on to say the growth was of a single digit magnitude with profits ahead of the revenue growth.
Mr Maidwell said the Newcastle- based business had responded quickly to a sharp downturn in the car market in late 2008 by reducing staff numbers from over 300 to around 250.
In late 2008, following the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers, sales of new cars fell by almost 50% with manufacturers closing down operations with the loss of thousands of jobs.
Mr Maidwell continued: “The market in the second half of 2008 was artificially extreme. What we witnessed in the second half was unprecedented.
“However, we took swift action to reduce costs in 2008 and we had cut our cloth by the end of the year.”
He said this had been through a combination natural wastage and compulsory redundancies.
He continued: “However, there is still a level of caution in the market and while that exists we will continue to keep a sharp focus on costs.”
In the last year the company sold 2,800 new Audis and over 2,000 used cars. Mr Maidwell said the company saw little benefit from the scrappage scheme which was mainly pitched at the cheaper end of the market.
The rise in the prices of used cars as a result of increased demand for second-hand vehicles had helped improve the company’s bottom line.
He went on to say that one of the reasons for its strong start to the year was the increased consumer confidence in the market.
He added: “The Audi product continues to be desirably strong and we are optimistic for the rest of the year with the impending launch of the Audi A1, which will give us a car to compete against the Mini for the first time.”
The results from Colebrook follow the pattern of improved performance across many of the region’s motor dealers with both Newcastle-based Jennings and Newton Aycliffe-based Holiways reporting increased profitability in the last year.
