There’s nothing more important than trust and transparency in today’s automotive marketplace. A transparent market makes car buying fair, inherently generating trust and building better relationships.
Auto Trader creates this trust and transparency throughout the market, allowing car buyers and sellers to focus on the things that really matter.
Business at a glance
We have achieved another strong year of growth across all three of our revenue streams. Our audience has grown – with increases in cross platform visits, minutes spent on our marketplace and full page advert views – and we have delivered on our capital return policy.
Trade
Revenue from retailers and home traders advertising their vehicles and utilising Auto Trader’s products.
Revenue performance
+9% to £262.1 million (2016: £236.4 million)
Percentage of revenue
Consumer services
Revenue from private sellers who can place an advert on the marketplace for a fee and from our partners who provide services to consumers.
Revenue performance
+4% to £31.8 million (2016: £30.3 million)
Percentage of revenue
Display advertising
Revenue from manufacturers and their advertising agencies who advertise their brand or services on the marketplace.
Revenue performance
+16% to £17.5 million (2016: £14.9 million)
Percentage of revenue
- 1.'2017' references the 369 day period ended 31 March 2017 and the comparative ‘2016’ references the 52 week period ended 27 March 2016 unless otherwise stated
- 2.Operating profit before share-based payments and associated national insurance (‘NI’) and exceptional items.
- 3.Cash generated from operations is defined as net cash generated from operating activities, before corporation tax paid.
- 4.Net external debt is gross external indebtedness, less cash and cash equivalents.
- 5.Leverage is Net external debt as a multiple of Adjusted underlying EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation,share-based payments and associated NI and exceptional items).
- 6.Cash returns to shareholders comprise dividends paid and the cost of share buybacks (excluding transaction costs)
- 7.Cross platform minutes measured by comScore.
- 8.Average number during the year.
- 9.Company measure of the number of inspections of individual vehicleadvertisements on the UK marketplace for both physical and virtual stock.
We have strived to create greater transparency and therefore trust in our marketplace, benefitting consumers, retailers and manufacturers alike."
The automotive market today
The UK automotive marketplace continues to grow. Used car volumes are benefitting from previous new car growth, which is expected to decline modestly from the record highs reached in 2017.
2.7m
new cars registered in the 12 months to March 2017 1
2.6%
increase in new car registrations in the 12 months to March 20171
8.2m
used cars sold in the 12 months to March 20171
11%
growth in finance agreements for used cars in the 12 months to March 20172
The automotive market, with nearly 11 million car transactions each year, is complex and often inefficient. We believe that by improving transparency, we can help remove some of the friction that’s currently felt in the car buying process, which will lead to people changing their cars more often – a win for consumers, retailers and the industry as a whole. Through the evolution of our digital platforms and our innovative data products we continue to make the car buying process easier for Consumers, Trade and Manufacturers.
Manufacturers
New cars are delivered into the market from manufacturers into fleet and lease (direct to businesses) and sold to consumers via a franchise network.
Trade
Retailers involved in the sale of new and used cars to consumers. They are also typically involved in partexchanging cars as well as sourcing and disposing of them, usually at auction.
Consumers
Owners of the 34 million cars in the UK involved in the purchase and sale of both new and used cars through the ecosystem.
- 1. SMMT trends data, March 2017 and May 2017.
- 2. Fleet and Leasing Association (‘FLA’) data for 12 months to March 2017.
In 2017, we returned £128.7m in cash to shareholders, as well as reducing gross debt by £40m."
Key performance indicators
We use the metrics below to track our financial performance.
Operating priorities relevant to our KPIs
- 1 Increase consumer audience, advert views and use of our valuation tools
- 2 Promote trust and fairness in the marketplace
- 3 Grow ARPR in a balanced, sustainable way by creating value for our customers
- 4 Extend the penetration of products outside of our core classified proposition
- 5 Enhance our relevance and value to manufacturers
- 6 Operate a simpler, leaner and more data-oriented business
Risks relevant to our KPIs
- 1 Economy, market and business environment
- 2 Increased competition
- 3 Brand
- 4 New or disruptive technologies and changing consumer behaviours
- 5 IT systems
- 6 Employee retention
As the 2017 financial year was five days longer than the previous year, year-on-year percentages for revenue, costs and profits have been adjusted to reflect like-for-like growth.