Carsales owner CAR Group (ASX:CAR) seems to have avoided the tremors hitting car sales in some markets like Australia and the US in recent months.
Major listed local dealers, Eagers Holdings and Peter Warren, have issued earnings downgrades and warned of worsening market conditions as consumer confidence slides—though industry data on car sales remains solid.
But CAR Group said a “challenging operating environment” didn’t stop it from delivering double-digit revenue and earnings growth across its key markets for the year to June.
The company, which owns vehicle trading websites in Australia, South Korea, Mexico, and Chile, made major deals when it acquired US-based Trader Interactive and Brazil’s Webmotors in 2022.
The two acquisitions helped power a 415% surge in group revenue for the year to June to A$1.1 billion.
Adjusted net profit, which removes the one-off A$487 million gain from Car Group’s acquisitions of Trader Interactive and Webmotors in FY23, was up 24% year on year at A$344 million.
On a pro forma basis, it was down to A$250 million, down from A$646 million in the prior year because of the gain the previous year from the acquisitions of Trader Interactive and Webmotors.
The company declared a 50% franked final dividend of 38.5 cents per share, up 18% year on year.
That took total dividends for 2023-24 to 73 cents per share, up 20% on the prior year.
Car Group said its full-year performance was boosted by a “robust used car market and strong operational performance” in Australia.
Car Group CEO Cameron McIntyre noted the recent acquisitions “are performing very well” and will “continue to drive significant long-term value for shareholders”.
“We have achieved excellent financial results in FY24 with double-digit revenue and earnings growth in all of our key geographies,” McIntyre said. “This is a great outcome and reflects the strength of the business model as well as its resilience given a more challenging operating environment in some of our markets.”
The shares were up more than 4% in mid-afternoon trading on Monday.