Driving Change Together.
Responsibly
Auto Trader Group plc
Annual Report and
Financial Statements
2025
VIEW MORE ONLINE
READ MORE IN THIS REPORT
01 Strategic report
02
At a glance
03
Highlights of the year
04
Chair’s statement
05
CEO’s statement
08
Market overview
12
How we create value
13
Strategic progress
18
Section 172(1) statement
22
Key performance indicators
25
Non-financial and sustainability
information statement
26
Financial review
29
Working responsibly
62
How we manage risk
65
Principal risks and uncertainties
Auto Trader is committed to improving the efficiency of car buying and
selling in the UK, to building stronger partnerships with customers, using
its influence to drive more environmentally friendly vehicle choices and
enabling this through a culture that allows our people to develop and
perform. With the largest number of car buyers and the largest choice
of trusted stock, Auto Trader’s marketplace sits at the heart of the UK
car buying process. That marketplace is built on an industry-leading
technology and data platform, which is increasingly used across the
automotive industry. Auto Trader is continuing to bring more of the car
buying journey online, creating an improved buying experience, whilst
enabling all its retailer partners to sell vehicles online.
is the UK’s largest
SCAN ANY QR CODE WITHIN
THIS REPORT TO UNLOCK
INTERACTIVE CONTENT
plc.autotrader.co.uk
How to use this report
The following symbols highlight where
you can find additional information,
including video content, elsewhere
in this report or on our PLC website:
73 Governance
113 Financial statements
114
Independent auditor’s report to the
members of Auto Trader Group plc
126
Consolidated income statement
127
Consolidated statement of
comprehensive income
128
Consolidated balance sheet
129
Consolidated statement of changes in equity
130
Consolidated statement of cash flows
131
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
161
Company balance sheet
162
Company statement of changes in equity
163
Notes to the Company financial statements
167
Unaudited five-year record
168
Shareholder information
74
Governance overview
77
Board of Directors
79
Corporate governance statement
84
Report of the Nomination Committee
87
Report of the Audit Committee
92
Report of the Corporate
Responsibility Committee
95
Directors’ remuneration report
109
Directors’ report
Strategic report
How our performance, purpose, strategy and risk
management are shaping the long-term value we
deliver for our stakeholders.
02
At a glance
03
Highlights of the year
04
Chair’s statement
05
CEO’s statement
08
Market overview
12
How we create value
13
Strategic progress
18
Section 172(1) statement
22
Key performance indicators
25
Non-financial and sustainability information statement
26
Financial review
29
Working responsibly
62
How we manage risk
65
Principal risks and uncertainties
01
Auto Trader Group plc
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Determined
Curious
COMMUNITY
Decisive
Humble
Adaptable
Our purpose: Driving
Change Together.
Responsibly guides our
strategy, our ways of
working and our culture.
At a glance
WHAT
WE DO
HOW
WE WORK
Our strategy has three focus areas that are closely interconnected, with working
responsibly embedded into everything we do:
Whilst it lacks precision, our culture is often described internally as ‘doing the right thing’,
which comes through as ‘Responsibly’ in our purpose:
MARKETPLACE
be the best place
to buy and sell a car
PLATFORM
be the industry’s data
and technology platform
DIGITAL RETAILING
be the enabler for all
retailers to sell online
WORKING AS ONE AUTO TRADER
WHY
WE EXIST
Our values are the guiding characteristics that underpin our culture.
They are embedded into our ways of working and core to our success:
COMMUNITY
We connect and understand each other, respect our differences and focus on finding
common ground. We are committed to making a difference in the communities around us.
CURIOUS
We look up, listen, think beyond the obvious
and find the Auto Trader way. We’re restless
and always thinking about what’s next.
DETERMINED
We get stuck in and have the conviction to
make big things happen. We persevere and
aren’t scared to do the hard thing.
DECISIVE
We crack on, trusting our instincts, data and
experience. We sometimes disagree, but we
always commit and deliver together.
ADAPTABLE
Our ability to change and change again is our
greatest strength. We act for the long term,
accept uncertainty and challenge everything.
HUMBLE
We share in our failures as well as our successes.
We earn our place and take nothing for granted.
WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP
WORKING AS OWNERS
WHO
WE ARE
WORKING RESPONSIBLY
be a responsible business
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
02
Auto Trader Group plc
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025
2025
2024
2023
£225m
£250m
£276m
Highlights of the year
We continue to deliver value for customers and embed
our role as the UK’s leading automotive platform
6%
reduction
in carbon emissions
to 93.2k tonnes of CO
2
(2024: 98.9k)
>75%
of all minutes spent
on automotive
marketplaces were
spent on Auto Trader
(2024: >75%)
OPERATIONAL
CULTURAL
FINANCIAL
>£750m returned
to shareholders over
the past three years
FINANCIAL
£377m
Group operating
profit (+8% YoY)
31.66p
Basic earnings
per share (+12% YoY)
CULTURAL
91%
of employees
proud to work
at Auto Trader
(2024: 97%)
81.6m
monthly visits
(2024: 77.5m)
557m
monthly minutes
(2024: 553m)
OPERATIONAL
Record numbers of buyers using our platform
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
03
Auto Trader Group plc
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025
Chair’s statement
“Our customer engagement
continues to grow with
record numbers of buyers
and sellers using Auto Trader
and our data and
technology are increasingly
being used by retailers
to power their businesses.”
INTRODUCTION
I am pleased to report another set of strong
Auto Trader results. Our customer engagement
continues to grow with record numbers of buyers
and sellers using Auto Trader and our data
and technology are increasingly being used by
retailers to power their businesses. Nathan sets
out in the subsequent report the drivers that
we believe will continue to serve us well over
the years ahead. The success of Auto Trader
is entirely down to the amazing people that we
have powering our business forward and we
are proud of our focus on diversity, equity and
inclusion which in no small part has contributed
to the continued success of the organisation.
RESULTS OVERVIEW
2025 has seen another year of operational
and financial progress at Auto Trader. The
automotive market has remained robust,
with transaction volumes and the number of
consumers using our marketplace increasing
year-on-year. We continue to enhance our
product offering, enabling more of the buying
journey to be completed online, and have
launched ‘Co-Driver’, our suite of AI powered
tools, designed to assist customers in advertising
their vehicles more efficiently and effectively.
We continue to invest in our people, creating an
environment where there is increasing alignment
between employees, customers and
shareholders. In the core Auto Trader business
we achieved record revenues of £564.8m, an
increase of 7% on 2024. Group revenue increased
5% to £601.1m (2024: £570.9m) with Autorama
revenue contributing £36.3m (2024: £41.2m).
Operating profit in the core Auto Trader business
was £394.0m (2024: £378.6m), up 4% on last year,
with an operating profit margin of 70% (2024: 71%).
Autorama saw reduced operating losses of
£4.3m (2024: £8.8m). Group operating profit
increased by 8% to £376.8m (2024: £348.7m),
reflecting the increase in revenue, reduced
operating loss in Autorama, and the reduction
in Group central costs to £12.9m (2024: £21.1m).
Group operating profit margin increased to 63%
(2024: 61%). Basic earnings per share increased
12% to 31.66p (2024: 28.15p).
BOARD CHANGES
At our AGM on 19 September 2024, Non-Executive
Directors, David Keens and Jill Easterbrook, did
not stand for re-election having both served their
third three-year term. We are very grateful for
David and Jill’s contributions as Non-Executive
Directors and highly effective Committee Chairs.
At the conclusion of the AGM, Geeta Gopalan
who joined the Board on 1 May 2024 was
appointed as Senior Independent Director and
Remuneration Committee Chair, and Amanda
James who joined the Board on 1 July 2024 was
appointed as Audit Committee Chair.
On 16 May 2025 we announced the appointment
of two Independent Non-Executive Directors,
Megan Quinn and Adam Jay, who will join the
Board with effect from 1 July 2025. Megan and
Adam will also join the Audit, Remuneration,
Corporate Responsibility and Nomination
Committees. These appointments follow
a comprehensive search process using an
external search firm, led by the Nomination
Committee, and are part of the Board’s
long-term succession planning.
We also announced that Jeni Mundy, who has
come to the end of her third three-year term, and
Sigga Sigurdardottir who will come to the end of
her second three-year term in 2025, will not stand
for re-election at the 2025 AGM. We thank Jeni
and Sigga for their important contributions to
Auto Trader during their time on the Board.
CAPITAL STRUCTURE AND DIVIDENDS
The Directors are recommending a final dividend
of 7.1 pence per share. Subject to shareholders’
approval at the AGM on 18 September 2025, the
final dividend will be paid on 26 September 2025
to shareholders on the register of members at
the close of business on 29 August 2025. The total
dividend for the year is therefore 10.6 pence per
share (2024: 9.6 pence per share).
The Group’s long-term capital allocation policy
remains consistent, focusing on investing in
the business to support growth while returning
approximately one third of net income to
shareholders through dividends. Any surplus
cash following these activities will be used
to continue our share buyback programme.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The AGM will be held in our Manchester office
on 18 September 2025 at 11am.
Matt Davies
Chair
29 May 2025
Matt Davies
Chair
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
04
Auto Trader Group plc
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Revenue (excl. vehicle sales)
Operating profit
EPS (pence)
CEO’s statement
Nathan Coe
Chief Executive
Officer
STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL REVIEW
We are now a full 10 years post our IPO in March
2015. In keeping with our approach last year, we
want to position our short-term results in the
context of the long-term Auto Trader investment
case. One of the strengths of the Auto Trader
business over its 48-year history has been its
consistent performance and growth through
changing market and economic conditions.
That is not to say that Auto Trader always grows
at the same rate, but we have consistently
expanded revenues, profits and our market
position over time. Whilst Auto Trader is always
evolving, the investment case has not
fundamentally changed over this 10-year period.
Our position connecting buyers and sellers in
the UK automotive market has also grown over
a long period of time. We have maintained this
position through an obsessive focus on the car
buying experience, the delivery of new products
to retailers and by staying ahead of evolving
competitive dynamics. Our consistent strategy
has focused on our core strengths which
continue to deepen the value we add to the
UK automotive market. There remains a big
opportunity to create additional value from
both existing and new customers that builds
on our strengths and assets. This will deliver
high incremental returns on the capital our
shareholders entrust us with. We accept this is
one of many possible strategies, but we believe
based on our capabilities and advantages, it
represents the best choice to create value for
all our stakeholders.
Since Auto Trader’s IPO the business has
delivered consistently. The early years post IPO
were characterised by steady revenue growth
and more dramatic margin expansion as we
simplified the business to focus on our core
proposition and becoming a business that
develops and scales through technology. Since
that time our performance has seen higher
revenue growth driven by the core business, with
margins still expanding. This has been delivered
through increased investment in the core
platform and close-adjacent opportunities.
We have a high velocity software development
cycle and lean operating structure, the costs of
which are mostly expensed as incurred through
the income statement. This means our profits
are post the required investment in the business.
We have consistently distributed these profits
through a combination of dividends and share
buybacks, which we intend to continue. This has
led to earnings per share growing at a faster
rate than both revenue and operating profit.
Since IPO, £1.4bn of surplus cash has been
returned to shareholders (net of the equity raise
during COVID-19) and we have delivered total
shareholder returns of 221% versus 77% for the
FTSE 350 (excluding investment trusts) since IPO
to the end of March 2025. We have a high degree
of confidence that over a longer time horizon we
will continue to grow through continued focus on
the drivers of value that have served us well so
far. These include: a growing automotive market
and profit pool; our market-leading position; our
heritage of innovation; a focused and consistent
strategy; and our purpose and culture.
1. A GROWING AUTOMOTIVE MARKET
AND PROFIT POOL
The size of the UK car parc has grown on
average by just over 300,000 (or 1%) cars per
year for the past 20 years, to now total over
36 million. The COVID-19 pandemic broke this
consistent trend, as new car production fell to
levels below even those of the Global Financial
AUTO TRADER’S
ROADMAP PODCAST
‘Life as a CEO of a
tech company’
Crisis of 2008-09. From time to time there will
be these anomalies, but over the long term we
expect the UK car parc to continue to grow.
This is driven by GDP growth, population growth
and stable trends in car ownership, supported
by the continued requirement for car owners
to have exclusive access to a vehicle. With a
relatively consistent vehicle change cycle in
the UK, typically between three and four years,
this growth in the car parc translates into
growing used car transaction volumes.
We also expect the value of both new and used
cars to continue to increase over time. At the
beginning of 2011, the average price of a used car
advertised on Auto Trader was £9,000, today it
is over £17,000, an average of over 4% growth per
year. While part of that increase is due to vehicle
mix, the majority is due to inflation, improved
functionality, longer useful lives and the move
towards more expensive electric vehicles. Based
on a sample of customer accounts, over the past
10 years gross percentage margins have remained
relatively consistent, between 9 and 11%, meaning
higher vehicle prices typically translate through to
higher absolute gross profits. In combination with
growing transaction volumes, this has seen the
gross profit pool increase over the past 10 years.
As a result, we have been able to grow revenues
without meaningfully increasing our take-rate.
Group revenue, operating profit and earnings per share
(£m)
“We remain confident
in the outlook for the
business given our
strong market position,
the value we deliver for
customers, and unique
data and technology
capabilities.”
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
05
Auto Trader Group plc
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025
CEO’s statement
continued
Today, our business model is largely linked
to the number of used vehicles available for
sale in the UK at any one time. This number is
determined by new vehicle sales in preceding
years less scrappage and means that vehicle
supply operates somewhat independently of
economic conditions, which limits the cyclicality
of our business model. New car sales tend to be
more cyclical or exposed to other macro-level
events, such as the global pandemic in 2020.
However, these events typically have a more
muted impact on used car sales due to the
relative size of the two markets (annual new car
sales of around 2 million versus used car sales
of 7.5-8 million). When economic conditions do
change, it is used vehicle prices that can be the
balancing factor given the relatively fixed used
car supply. When consumer demand softens
significantly, prices typically reduce which
impacts the profitability of our customers and
can flow through to greater cost consciousness
and retailer closures. We still grow, however
not necessarily at the same rate as when trading
conditions are more favourable for retailers.
While not a material driver of revenue, the
number of retailer forecourts is still an important
metric for us. Overall, the market is highly
fragmented, and we do not expect this to
change. Within the UK, we have seen continued
growth in retailer forecourts for the past seven
years. Looking forward, we expect the very
largest retailer groups to get bigger, but these
account for a relatively small amount of revenue
(our top 10 customers represent less than 7% of
Group revenue). Overall retailer numbers for last
year averaged 14,013 which is significantly higher
than the 13,452 at the time of our IPO. This is
despite a reduction of c.550 retailers when we
sold our business in the Republic of Ireland.
All these factors combine to provide an underlying
market that is resilient and likely to grow in both
volume and value over the long term.
2. OUR MARKET-LEADING POSITION
As the automotive market increasingly embraces
technology, data and digital sales channels,
we are uniquely placed to help. At IPO (financial
year 2015) Auto Trader had visits of 40.3 million
per month, which has grown to 81.6 million in
the current year. We account for over 75% of all
minutes spent on automotive classified sites
and remain 10x larger than our nearest classified
competitor. Almost half of our traffic comes via
our app, which has been downloaded 22 million
times and our prompted brand awareness
with UK consumers is over 80%; both are key
components of our competitive moat. The level
of consumer engagement continues to grow, as
measured by the number of minutes spent on
site, which was up 1% year-on-year. Over the last
financial year we saw 67 billion vehicle search
appearances, 3.5 billion views of an advert
and 15 million enquiries submitted to retailers.
We also saw 21 million valuations requested by
consumers and 23 million engagements with our
finance calculator, showing the important role
the online buying journey plays in helping
consumers arrive at the forecourt ready to buy.
Beyond car buyers, retailers are increasingly
using our data, tools and services to power their
businesses. Our Retailer Portal system saw over
1.8 million logins per month over the last year and
our API technology services, which supply data,
stock management and now AI-enabled vehicle
descriptions and smart image sorting and
tagging, were called 91 million times per month
(2024: 86 million). This demonstrates how our
data, tools and services are becoming
increasingly embedded within our customers’
systems, operations and decision-making,
extending our reach and influence beyond
just classified advertising and marketing.
3. OUR HERITAGE OF INNOVATION
As a result of our trusted position and brand
heritage, Auto Trader has been the destination
for car buyers to navigate their car buying
journey for many years. From initially operating
as a magazine to the technology business we
are today, we have continuously evolved our
consumer experience to provide more
confidence, comparability and consistency for
buyers. On Auto Trader, buyers can benefit from
enriched data about the specification and
performance of the car, check the history of the
vehicle and whether it has outstanding finance,
seamlessly use artificial intelligence (‘AI’) to get a
market value for the car they’re buying or selling,
consider retailer reviews, apply for finance and
reserve cars online.
This year we have extended our proposition
for car buyers again, with the largest redesign
of our desktop search experience in a decade.
We have moved our search results to a grid view,
enabling buyers to see an increased number of
cars with larger images. Our search filters have
been redesigned, and we have introduced
continuous scrolling, making it easier to access
all the choice available on Auto Trader. The
coverage of Deal Builder has increased to
c.84,000 vehicles at year end, where consumers
can secure a part-exchange valuation,
complete a finance application and reserve
the vehicle all on Auto Trader. We rolled out dark
mode to our Apple and Android apps, which
account for almost half of consumer activity
and engagement on Auto Trader. Finally, we
have launched our Co-Driver product, delivering
one of the most material improvements to our
search experience in years by improving
descriptions and imagery and calling out the
unique aspects of each individual vehicle.
Co-Driver is an umbrella brand for a range of
AI-enabled products that we plan to launch in
the years ahead, as we look to make our data,
technology and services available to every
retailer regardless of their size or technical
capability. We believe we have a significant
advantage in our platform products, as the
output of any AI application will only ever be as
good as the data upon which it is based. We have
the most complete and comprehensive vehicle
dataset in the UK, along with a vast and unique
dataset of observations on the behaviour of car
buyers and retailers on our platform. Our goal
with the first wave of Co-Driver products is to
significantly improve the quality of adverts,
whilst reducing the amount of time it takes
for retailers to advertise their vehicles. The
first three products include Smart Image
Management, AI Generated Descriptions and
Vehicle Highlights, all of which assist retailers in
getting an advert live quickly and accurately and
in delivering consistency and transparency for
car buyers. Smart Image Management means
retailers just need to upload their images and
using AI we will tag and categorise the images,
order them and highlight any that are missing.
This process utilises the huge amount of
consumer data we have to optimise the image
order, to maximise engagement with that
retailer’s vehicle. AI Generated Descriptions
leverage everything we know about a specific
vehicle, the vehicles it is competing with and
what buyers of the vehicle are most interested in.
This replaces the time-consuming process of
working out the spec of a vehicle, determining
what matters most to car buyers and the manual
writing of the description by retailers. Finally,
Vehicle Highlights calls out the top three most
distinctive features about a specific vehicle on
the advert. This could include fuel economy
relative to similar vehicles, the number of owners,
low mileage, cheaper insurance, or any other
aspect that is meaningful to buyers of those
types of vehicles.
We will continue to improve and build on these
products; to improve the consumer experience
and strengthen the partnership we have with
customers by increasing their use of our data,
tools and technology services. This innovation is
delivered through our well-invested technology
platform, built in-house by Auto Trader engineers
who have many years of experience enabling
products and services for our customers. Our
high velocity approach to software development
means we typically deliver product value
incrementally which reduces risk and enables us
to maintain agility. This year we delivered 89,000
software releases (2024: 65,000).
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
06
Auto Trader Group plc
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025
CEO’s statement
continued
4. A FOCUSED AND CONSISTENT STRATEGY
Our strategy has three focus areas: our
marketplace; our platform; and digital retailing.
These areas are closely interconnected, as our
platform and digital retailing capabilities build
on and contribute to the strength of our
marketplace. Over time we have embedded
our data and services into the systems and
processes used by both our retailer partners and
car buyers. These will be covered in more detail
in Catherine’s update on our strategic progress.
5. OUR PURPOSE AND CULTURE
Our purpose is Driving Change Together.
Responsibly, which describes why we exist,
what we are looking to do and how we are
looking to achieve it. Culture for us is as tangible
and important to our performance as our
strategy, competitive position and product
development pipeline. We aim to be purpose
driven, principled, and values led. Whilst it lacks
precision, our culture is often described
internally as ‘doing the right thing’, represented
by ‘Responsibly’ in our purpose. Specifically,
we are looking for balance. Balance between
short and long term performance, and balance
between value creation for customers, our
people, shareholders and the industry and
communities within which we work.
‘Together’ is also an important part of our
purpose. We refer internally to being ‘One’
Auto Trader. This refers to working as a single
team, not in silos, with trust and collaboration
over hierarchy and bureaucracy. To progress
any initiative, our people must talk, be aligned
with our priorities, listen to each other, and
collaborate authentically. ‘Together’ also talks
to the partnership we aim for with our customers,
retailers, manufacturers, leasing companies,
finance companies and other players in the
automotive ecosystem. We bring a lot more to
our customers than just the advertising we sell.
With our data, brand, people and technology we
can help our customers achieve their business
goals, which makes them much more likely to
understand and use our products, advice, insight
and services. Finally, ‘Together’ is an ownership
mindset amongst our people which strongly
reinforces the two points above. We have now
awarded two One Auto Trader all-employee
share schemes that provide employees with
an extra 10% of their salary in shares each year,
vesting over a three-year period. This builds
on an already strong ownership culture, aligns
our people with our shareholders and can be
accommodated within our long-term Auto Trader
margin target.
There has been much in the press recently
regarding diversity, equity and inclusion (‘DE&I’).
At Auto Trader, we have been quietly working for
many years to create a talent strategy that is
inclusive and diverse, where any talented person
can be successful. We started on that journey,
and will continue, because it has proven to be
an important contributor to the success of our
organisation. 91% of people are proud to work
at Auto Trader (March 2024: 97%). Our employee
driven networks support women, ethnicity,
LGBT+, wellbeing, early careers, disability and
neurodiversity, social mobility and family. They
have continued their impressive work and have
supported many colleagues during the period.
At the end of March 2025, women represented
44% of our organisation (March 2024: 44%) and
43% (March 2024: 42%) of leadership roles as
defined by the FTSE Women Leaders Review.
We are committed to increasing the percentage
of ethnically diverse employees, who currently
represent 19% of our organisation (March 2024:
17%), with 7% of employees not disclosing their
ethnicity. The percentage of ethnically diverse
employees in leadership increased to 10%
(March 2024: 6%), although we also increased
our Leadership Team which impacted this
number. Following the AGM, our Board comprises
six women and three men, with two from an
ethnically diverse background and a woman
as Senior Independent Director.
We are committed to being net zero by 2040 and
halving our carbon emissions by 2030, targets
which have been validated by the Science Based
Targets initiative (‘SBTi’). Our calculations
estimate our GHG emissions during the year were
6% lower at c.93.2k tonnes of CO
2
across Scopes
1, 2 and 3 (2024: 98.9k tonnes). The majority of
our emissions are Scope 3, predominantly
attributable to our suppliers and emissions
relating to the small number of vehicles sold by
Autorama that pass through their balance sheet.
Emissions relating to Auto Trader total 9.9k tonnes
and 83.3k tonnes are attributable to Autorama
(2024: Auto Trader 14.2k and Autorama 84.7k).
OUTLOOK
Our April 2025 pricing and product event has
gone well.
Retailer revenue growth in the second half of
last year was 5% which was constrained by the
acceleration in speed of sale. This has continued
into the new financial year, however we expect
retailer revenue growth to improve to between
5 and 7% for FY26 for the following reasons:
•
Speed of sale has natural constraints.
The acceleration seen last financial year
was largely driven by a fall in used car prices
which have steadily increased throughout
the second half of the year as retailers have
sought more normalised margins.
•
Our pricing and product event has delivered
approximately 6% growth in retailer revenue.
Assuming consistent retailer forecourts,
we expect this to grow the price lever within
ARPR by £90-100 and contribute £70-80 to
the product lever.
•
We have responded to market dynamics
with offers to stimulate stock and continue to
support retailer margins with our prominence
products. In H2 FY25, the stock lever was
minus £54, in April 2025 it was minus £42. We
expect stock to continue to improve through
the year but still be marginally down for FY26.
However, any marginal decline in the stock
lever should be offset by similar amounts in
product lever contribution from additional
prominence products.
•
Due to the comparative periods, growth will
be stronger in the second half which we expect
will benefit the start of FY27.
We expect broadly consistent revenues in
Consumer Services and Manufacturer & Agency,
which account for 9% of Group revenue. Autorama
losses are expected to reduce in line with current
market expectations, with growth in commission
& ancillary revenue on a relatively consistent cost
base. Vehicle & accessory sales which has no
impact on profit is likely to be c.£20m.
We expect to maintain current levels of
Auto Trader operating profit margins, whilst
Group operating profit margins will increase
as a result of reduced Autorama losses.
Nathan Coe
Chief Executive Officer
29 May 2025
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
07
Auto Trader Group plc
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025
29.0
30.0
31.0
32.0
33.0
34.0
35.0
36.0
37.0
New
Scrapped
Car parc
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
(2.5)
(2.0)
(1.5)
(1.0)
(0.5)
UK car parc – million
New / (scrapped) – million
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
20,000
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
Market overview
A resilient market growing in both volume and value over the past 20 years,
which we expect to continue into the future
UK CAR PARC
The size of the UK car parc has grown on average
by just over 300,000 (or 1%) cars per year for the
past 20 years, to now total over 36 million. The
COVID-19 pandemic broke this consistent trend,
as new car production fell to levels below even
those of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-09.
From time to time there will be these anomalies,
but over the long term we expect the UK car parc
to continue to grow. This is driven by GDP growth,
population growth and stable trends in car
ownership, which is supported by feedback
from car owners that they value exclusive access
to a vehicle more than ever. With a relatively
consistent vehicle change cycle in the UK,
typically between three and four years, this
growth in the car parc, supports used car
transaction volumes.
LONG-TERM PRICES
We also expect the value of both new and used cars
to continue to increase over time. At the beginning
of 2011, the average price of a used car advertised
on Auto Trader was £9,000, today it is over £17,000,
an average of over 4% growth per year. While part
of that increase is due to vehicle mix, the majority
is due to inflation, improved functionality, longer
useful lives and the move towards more expensive
electric vehicles. Based on a sample of customer
accounts, over the past 10 years gross percentage
margins have remained relatively consistent,
between 9% and 11%, meaning higher vehicle prices
translate through to higher absolute gross profits.
This, in combination with growing transaction
volumes, has seen the gross profit pool increase
over the past 10 years.
As a result, we have been able to grow revenues
without meaningfully increasing our take-rate
over the same period.
Average used vehicle price
(£)
UK car parc
Calendar year
Calendar year
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
08
Auto Trader Group plc
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2.0
2.0
1.7
1.6
1.6
2.1
2.3
2.4
2.7
2.7
2.5
2.3
2.1
1.9
Car transactions – million
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
7.0
8.0
9.0
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
Car transactions – million
7.3
7.6
6.9
7.5
6.5
7.7
7.9
7.9
8.2
7.8
7.3
7.3
6.7
6.7
Market overview
continued
With the UK car parc turning relatively consistently, used car transactions are well supported,
increasing 4% year-on-year as new car registrations continue to recover
Used car transactions
NEW CAR REGISTRATIONS
Over the past 12 months the new car market
has grown 2% to just under two million
registrations. The retail channel has remained
under pressure, seeing a 4% year-on-year
decline, with lower registration volumes than
in our financial year 2009, after the Global
Financial Crisis. This decline was more than
offset by growth in the fleet segment, which
accounted for nearly 60% of all registrations.
The share of battery electric vehicles as a
percentage of total car sales increased to 21%.
It is not yet clear how global tariffs are likely
to impact the UK car market. It is possible
that due to a lack of retaliatory tariffs the UK
market looks relatively attractive for foreign
vehicle exports. In addition, vehicles
produced in the UK may be more likely to be
sold in the UK, both of which could support
new car volumes going forward. Offsetting
this impact is the possibility that wide-ranging
tariffs on vehicle components increase the
price of new cars, which would push car
buyers towards used car alternatives and
put downward pressure on new car volumes.
This would support near-term used car prices,
however as we saw in 2020/2021, lower new
car volumes today create used car supply
challenges in the future. The government
has also announced plans to soften the Zero
Emission Vehicle (‘ZEV’) mandate, which
should support overall registration volumes
over the next two to three years.
New car registrations
USED CAR TRANSACTIONS
The used car market has continued to recover
from the lows of COVID-19 throughout this
financial year, which we expect to continue.
Demand remains strong, with cars continuing
to sell faster than before the pandemic as
explained on the next page. Used car supply
has gradually improved and both trade
and retail prices have been broadly stable
throughout this year, following declines
last year. There were 7.6 million used car
transactions in the 12 months to March 2025,
up 4% year-on-year (2024: 7.3 million). Supply
has gradually improved through the year as
new car registrations have grown through the
fleet channel, which has in turn increased the
availability of ex-fleet stock for franchise and
independent customers. The growth in used
car transactions is larger than our increase
in live car stock on site as the speed at which
cars have been sold has continued to
be quicker.
Whilst supply at a market level has gradually
improved, we have seen the impact of the 3
million new cars not sold during the pandemic
flowing through the parc, shifting from
1-3-year-old cars to the 3-5-year-old segment
of the market. In 2019 there were circa 4.8
million 3-5-year-old cars in the parc; by the
end of this year, it falls to just 2.9 million,
making it the lowest level on record.
Financial year
Financial year
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
09
Auto Trader Group plc
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025
31
31
30
29
32
33
32
30
32
33
31
32
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Qtr4
Qtr3
Qtr2
Qtr1
Qtr4
Qtr3
Qtr2
Qtr1
Qtr4
Qtr3
Qtr2
Qtr1
2023
2024
2025
Days to sell
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
258
225
246
250
256
211
233
229
238
191
204
203
Qtr4
Qtr3
Qtr2
Qtr1
Qtr4
Qtr3
Qtr2
Qtr1
Qtr4
Qtr3
Qtr2
Qtr1
Website visits – million
2023
2024
2025
Market overview
continued
We continue to see strong levels of demand for used cars, with a record
number of cross platform visits and minutes spent on Auto Trader
DEMAND
Despite the political instability of a general
election at the start of the year and a challenging
economic backdrop, used car demand remained
extremely resilient throughout the year, building
on two previous years of growth. Over 75% of all
minutes spent on automotive marketplaces were
spent on Auto Trader (2024: over 75%) and we saw
record numbers of both visits and minutes on our
platform. Cross platform visits were up 5% to 81.6
million per month (2024: 77.5 million) and cross
platform minutes increased 1% to 557 million per
month (2024: 553 million).
DAYS TO SELL
As mentioned, this year we saw a gradual rise in
used car supply relative to last year, which was
met with increasing levels of used car demand,
resulting in used car transaction growth of 4%
year-on-year. We believe this set of market
dynamics could have supported higher used car
prices, however pricing remained broadly stable
which led to a further increase in the speed with
which cars were sold. This combination of high
demand and supply being restricted in the 3-5-
year-old cohort has led to cars selling at a faster
rate than any time in our recent history.
Visits
Average days to sell
81.6m
visits per month over the year
(2024: 77.5m)
Financial year
Financial year
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
10
Auto Trader Group plc
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025
Market overview
continued
Key trends within the automotive market
As choices have become more complex, the
demand for an omnichannel journey, that
blends digital convenience and transparency
with the in-person experience that only a
retailer can offer, is accelerating. A ‘digital
first’ mindset and the right online presence is
also influencing footfall – although some
consumers contact a retailer before visiting,
the majority still just walk in, looking to speak
to someone before finalising their purchase.
Our research shows that two thirds of walk-ins
don’t feel the need to make contact first,
having already researched the car and
retailer online.
We’re committed to bringing more of the car
buying journey online through our digital
retailing solutions. Our main focus has been
in developing our Deal Builder product for used
cars, which enables our partners to offer a
seamless online buying journey from their
Online buying journey
EV transition
Auto Trader adverts. By the end of this financial
year, there were c.2,000 retailers and c.84,000
vehicles live with the product available.
Over the past year, retailers have consistently
seen more than double the sales conversion
rate of deals versus traditional enquiries, as
well as a significant reduction in haggling and
time spent on admin, which freed-up front-line
colleagues to focus on driving even more
sales. It enables consumers to engage with
retailers when and how it best suits them, with
almost half of deals being submitted out of
hours, meaning retailers would arrive at work
with enquiries in their inbox. Although the initial
point of contact can now happen at any time,
most drivers still want to test drive before
completing the deal, signalling that a mix
of both digital and physical is still essential.
2024 was the year of ‘peak petrol’, which
means from now on the volume of petrol cars
on the UK’s roads will fall. It was also a record
year for electric sales as the share of new car
registrations hit 21% with volume exceeding
400,000. However, progress came at a cost
in the shape of heavy discounting whilst the
fleet sector accounted for three out of four
EVs registered. The shift to electric is fuelling
increased competition in the market, with
over 62 brands expected to be in the UK
market by the end of calendar year 2025, up
from 45 in 2019. At a time when the industry
is working hard to encourage more people
to make the switch, this year will see the
introduction of the Electric Car Supplement,
potentially pushing brand-new EVs even
further out of reach for many car buyers.
Private buyers wanting to transition to
electric are increasingly relying on the used
market, drawn by lower resale values,
competitive pricing relative to the ICE
market and growing consumer choice. Since
mid-2023, the used EV market has continued
to grow, with consumer demand outpacing
supply on retailer forecourts.
Through our unique market data and insights,
and our range of products and tools, we
continue to support the transition to electric
among consumers, as well as all our customer
and industry stakeholders, helping them to
make more informed buying and selling
decisions. Over the last financial year, we have
invested significantly in driving consumer
awareness, through both our monthly ‘EV
Giveaway’ competition, and our multi-million-
pound new car marketing campaign. We’re
also working closely with Government,
ensuring key departments have the most
accurate and informed view of the progress
being made on the road to electrification.
STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVE
“Deal Builder means that we are open 24
hours a day... last week we came in and
had three deals waiting for us which had
been submitted overnight. We’re not
having to deal with the back and forth.”
Paul Bainton
Managing Director, G5 Cars
STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVE
“Adapting to the market by stocking
electric cars has kept us up to date with
consumer demand, and we foresee
this electric demand increasing as time
goes on.”
James McConville
Company Director, Solo Cars
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
11
Auto Trader Group plc
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025
La
r
g
e
s
t
v
o
l
u
m
e
o
f
b
u
y
e
r
s
MARKETPLACE
W
i
d
e
s
t
c
h
o
i
c
e
o
f
v
e
h
i
c
l
e
s
M
o
s
t
e
f
f
e
c
t
i
ve
s
a
l
e
s
c
h
a
n
n
e
l
B
e
s
t
c
a
r
b
u
y
i
n
g
e
x
p
e
r
i
e
n
c
e
How we create value
At the core of our business
model is the UK’s largest
automotive marketplace
Our marketplace is built on an industry-leading technology and data
platform, which is increasingly used across the automotive industry.
The scale and engagement with our platform deepens our relationships
with both customers and car buyers, as well as presenting long-term
growth opportunities. Auto Trader is continuing to bring more of the car
buying journey online, creating an improved buying experience, whilst
enabling all its retailer partners to sell vehicles online.
Solely focused on the
UK automotive market
1
2
3
4
Most recognised and trusted
automotive brand with
largest and most engaged
car buying audience
Long-term focus and
investment in our
technology, platform
and data capability
Driven, principled and
values-led culture
Our investors
Long-term revenue and profit growth
leading to significant cash generation
and returns to shareholders through
dividends and share buybacks.
Our consumers
The best buying experience with the
greatest choice of vehicles regardless
of type or purchase method. Continuing
to create greater levels of transparency
for car buyers.
Our customers
The most effective sales channel
with market-leading insight, data and
products. Continue to drive efficiencies
with AI and more of the buying journey
being completed online.
Our people
We continue to evolve our culture so
everyone can develop and achieve
their career aspirations.
Increasingly
better informed
car buyers
AI enabled
tools and
efficiencies
More of the
buying journey
online
Real time vehicle
updates for
customers
Increased choice
through new car
and leasing
PLATFORM
High-quality technology platform
DATA
Industry-leading data, insight & taxonomy
Industry-leading
valuations and
vehicle data
What sets us apart
Value created for stakeholders
Powering the automotive ecosystem
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
12
Auto Trader Group plc
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025
W
O
R
K
I
N
G
R
E
SP
O
N
S
I
B
L
Y
D
I
G
I
T
A
L
R
E
T
A
I
L
I
N
G
P
L
A
T
F
O
R
M
MARKETPLACE
Strategic progress
A focused and
consistent strategy
Our strategy as set out at our investor day in September 2022 is made
up of three strategic focus areas: our marketplace; our platform;
and digital retailing. These areas are closely interconnected, as our
platform and digital retailing capabilities build on the strengths of
our marketplace whilst also strengthening our marketplace through
deeper relationships and greater value for customers and car buyers.
Across those strategic focus areas we have working
responsibly embedded into everything we do. This inter-
relationship is well articulated by our purpose: Driving Change
Together. Responsibly. As part of working responsibly we
aim to do the right thing for our customers, our car buyers,
our people and our shareholders.
Working responsibly
Be a responsible business
Marketplace
Be the best place
to buy and sell a car
Platform
Be the industry’s data
and technology platform
Digital retailing
Be the enabler for all
retailers to sell online
“We continue to see further
adoption of our products,
platform and services
amongst retailers and
other industry players.”
Catherine Faiers
Chief Operating Officer
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
13
Auto Trader Group plc
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025
Strategic progress
continued
Marketplace
1.8m
people viewing a new
vehicle on Auto Trader
each month
Our marketplace delivered robust revenue
and operating profit growth during the year.
Our marketplace business grows reasonably
consistently between mid and high single
digits. When stock is in tighter supply or
when market conditions mean that retailer
profitability is particularly challenged,
revenue is typically at the lower end of this
range. This year we saw a gradual rise in used
car supply relative to last year, which was met
with increasing levels of used car demand,
resulting in used car transaction growth of
4% year-on-year. This set of market dynamics
could have supported higher used car prices,
however pricing remained broadly stable
which led to a further increase in the speed
with which cars were sold. This meant we did
not see an uptick in live car stock or the stock
lever component of average revenue per
retailer (‘ARPR’), which was negative in the
year. This fast speed of sale also impacted
the level of product growth with less need for
customers to buy our prominence products.
Despite this, we have generally managed to
retain customers, with 33% of retailer stock
on a package above Standard compared
to 35% in the prior year, but additional upsell
opportunities have been limited. Both of
these impacts can be seen in our ARPR growth
of 5% year-on-year, where much of the growth
was attributable to our annual pricing and
product event.
Despite a subdued new car retail market, we
have continued to make good progress with
our new car products. We ended the year
with c.2,200 Franchise customers paying to
advertise new cars on the platform (2024:
c.2,100). Encouragingly, we had an average
of 1.9 million people coming to Auto Trader
and viewing a new vehicle on average every
month this year, an increase of 28% on
the previous year. Importantly, we are
maintaining our relevance as the market
transitions to electric vehicles (‘EVs’), with 21%
of our new car stock being EVs. We continue to
work with manufacturers that are looking to
sell direct to consumers, however we are yet
to find a solution that fits with their operating
model that is both scalable and effective.
We also offer an end-to-end leasing
transaction journey on Auto Trader. This year
we continued to focus on integrating leasing
offers into the core Auto Trader search
experience. The goal is to enable a more
scalable and robust checkout journey on
all platforms and to ensure we are set up to
grow profitably as volume returns to the
personal leasing channel (‘PCH’). This year
we delivered 6,268 vehicles, which is lower
than the previous year (7,847) due to supply
constraints in this channel and our focus
on scalable and profitable transactions.
Average commission and ancillary revenue
per vehicle was £1,627, compared to £1,631
in the prior year. Despite more challenging
conditions than we expected at the beginning
of the year, operating losses halved from
the previous year to £4.3m (2024: £8.8m loss).
During the year we launched an extensive
new car marketing campaign. We have recently
complemented the advertising of Franchise
retailers’ new car stock, with direct listings from
manufacturers and increased new car leasing
deals through our acquisition of Autorama. The
campaign was aimed at increasing consumer
awareness of this broader new car offering now
available on Auto Trader. The media investment
was across a number of channels including
broadcast and digital. We’ve seen increased
engagement with new car content as we’ve
moved through the year, demonstrating the
success of the campaign. This marketing has
also been supported by our partnership with
WhatCar? and our continued EV giveaway.
We will continue marketing new cars into the
next financial year, with the aim of targeting
a younger audience.
Significant new car
marketing campaign
HOW WE MEASURE PROGRESS
• Revenue
•
Average revenue per retailer (‘ARPR’)
•
Operating profit (and margin)
• Basic EPS
•
Cash generated from operations
•
Cross platform visits
•
Cross platform minutes
•
Number of retailer forecourts
•
Live car stock
• Employee engagement
ASSOCIATED RISKS
•
Automotive economy, market
and business environment
• Climate change
• Employees
•
Reliance on third parties and partners
•
IT systems and cyber security
•
Failure to innovate: disruptive technologies
and changing consumer behaviours
•
Legal and regulatory compliance
• Competition
•
Brand and reputation
2%
retailer forecourt
growth year-on-year
to record level
KPIS
P22
RISKS
P62
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
14
Auto Trader Group plc
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025
SCAN
TO WATCH
VIDEO
Strategic progress
continued
Platform
91m
API calls per month on average
(2024: 86m)
We continue to see strong adoption
amongst retailers and other industry players
of our platform capabilities, data, tools and
technology services. Many retailers gain
access to these products through our Retailer
Portal as their primary stock management
system, but for larger or more complex retailers
they integrate these services into their own
systems. We see high engagement once
customers integrate either directly or through
their technology partners, as the data and
services are embedded into their own systems
and processes. We are now integrated with
over 120 technology partners and continue
to build on these partnerships each month.
Making our platform accessible enables our
customers to benefit from the multi-year
investment we have made in our technology
and data platform and our data science
capability. Over many years we have improved
the quality of our vehicle data, retailer
data and consumer data, most of which
is proprietary and not available anywhere
other than in our own services.
As part of our annual pricing and product
event in April 2024, we made the third module
of Auto Trader Connect available, providing
retailers with Trended Valuations and our
enhanced Retail Check product. Combined,
this powerful new layer of intelligence helps
retailers adapt and respond to daily market
changes with quicker and more profitable
sourcing, advertising, and pricing decisions.
Throughout the last financial year, over 70%
of retailers were using our trended valuations
product each month. Most data we provide is
real-time, which is helpful but is enriched when
retailers can see how retail pricing for vehicles
has trended in the past and what we forecast
it to do in the future. All our metrics draw on the
millions of vehicle and consumer observations
we have, using machine learning to turn them
into accurate and specific metrics for exactly
the car a retailer owns or is looking to buy.
We continue to focus on building a robust,
scalable automotive finance platform that
brings transparency, technology and choice
to the industry. We believe this is very valuable
to our customers, lenders and Auto Trader,
however the work and time taken to establish
this is significant. One of the key challenges
is the time taken to secure lender agreement
and for them to prioritise and undertake the
technical work to integrate with our platform.
The platform enables a journey up to two-way
full real-time finance applications and
approval with an e-signature.
For much of the past 10 years, we have been
building our data science team and working with
machine learning and artificial intelligence (‘AI’).
These models underpin most of the metrics we
provide to our customers and car buyers, including
price flags, valuations, advertising performance,
retail demand and supply and our search
algorithm. We have been experimenting with
the latest generation of large language models
(‘LLMs’) and see great potential to leverage
this technology combined with our unique,
proprietary dataset to make the lives of our
retailers easier and to improve the experience
for buyers on Auto Trader.
Long-term investment
in data science
HOW WE MEASURE PROGRESS
•
API calls on average per month
•
Number of lender integrations
•
Number of product releases
ASSOCIATED RISKS
•
Reliance on third parties and partners
•
IT systems and cyber security
•
Failure to innovate: disruptive technologies
and changing consumer behaviours
KPIS
P22
RISKS
P62
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
15
Auto Trader Group plc
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025
SCAN
TO WATCH
VIDEO
Strategic progress
continued
Digital retailing
c.2,000
Deal Builder customers
live in March 2025
(March 2024: c.1,100)
c.49,000
deals generated on
Deal Builder in 2025
(2024: c.16,000)
Retailers and their physical stores will continue
to play a critical role in the car buying and
retailing process for many years to come, as
most consumers are not comfortable buying a
car entirely online. There is a desire to inspect,
test drive and gain support from people
throughout the process. However, we do
believe the process can be improved by
enabling more of the journey to be done online,
at a time convenient for car buyers before
they visit the forecourt. This also benefits our
customers as a large amount of resource
is allocated to managing enquiries and
processing paperwork that does not ultimately
result in a sale and therefore impacts their
bottom line. We are in a unique position to
connect online journeys, which typically start
on Auto Trader, into retailers’ systems and
processes through our Retailer Portal and API
journeys. This is the strategy we have been
pursuing to date with our Deal Builder product.
The feedback on the product continues to be
positive from both retailers and car buyers,
with deals converting twice as effectively as
a regular Auto Trader lead and over half of all
deals being submitted outside of traditional
working hours. At the end of March 2025, we
had increased customers using Deal Builder
year-on-year by 82% to c.2,000 (2024: c.1,100),
which made the product available on
c.84,000 vehicles, an increase of over 100% on
the same period last year. Deals generated
were three times higher at c.49,000 from
c.16,000 in the prior year. Over half of the
customers at year end were either paying
for the product or had been onboarded as
‘try before you buy’, expecting to roll up to
paid after an initial offer period.
Given this progress, and our experience with
previous products at Auto Trader, we have
decided to accelerate the adoption of Deal
Builder by making Deal Builder functionality
part of our core advertising proposition.
We believe there are significant benefits
to this approach:
•
We have been onboarding c.500 customers
every six months and with this approach we
expect to have significantly more customers
with the product by the end of this financial
year, accelerating customer adoption.
•
With significantly more vehicles
having a ’deal’ journey available, we
expect to materially increase the number
of deals being submitted on Auto Trader,
accelerating the level of buyer engagement
on site. We believe this may provide
additional functionality that will appeal to
the two thirds of buyers that walk into the
forecourt without contacting the retailer
in advance, resulting in a disconnected
and inefficient forecourt journey for both
the buyer and the retailer where there
is no insight provided on the buyer’s
online journey.
•
We have seen retailers’ willingness to pay
for Deal Builder, suggesting they value the
product. While Deal Builder will no longer
be monetised per transaction, we now
have the opportunity to bring Deal Builder
into our core offering, something we have
a long history of successfully achieving.
In parallel to Deal Builder, we are working
to enable a digital retailing journey for new
cars. Throughout the period we have further
integrated leasing deals for cars, vans and
pickups into the core Auto Trader search
experience. Our car leasing tab consolidates
all available deals and provides a full checkout
journey on Auto Trader. The personal leasing
market has been constrained by tight supply,
but in time, as fleets ‘catch-up’ on orders not
fulfilled over the past four years we expect supply
through this channel to gradually improve.
This plays to our strengths of being a
subscription business. We continue to see
future opportunities to further monetise
finance and other ancillary products.
•
Having this functionality available on
Auto Trader offers further differentiation
from current and future competitors.
The technical undertaking would require
substantial time and resources to replicate.
Since our IPO more of our growth has
come from product than price and stock.
Our product pipeline is as strong as it has
ever been, with opportunities across our
advertising marketplace, data and AI, our
platform services and Digital Retailing. This
combined with the strong foundations we
have built with our brand, data, technology,
and software development capability gives
us confidence in our ability to grow profitably
for many years to come.
HOW WE MEASURE PROGRESS
•
Number of Deal Builder customers
•
Number of Deal Builder live stock
•
Number of submitted deals
•
Number of leasing vehicles delivered
ASSOCIATED RISKS
•
Reliance on third parties and partners
•
IT systems and cyber security
•
Failure to innovate: disruptive technologies
and changing consumer behaviours
•
Legal and regulatory compliance
New car leasing check-out
available on Auto Trader
KPIS
P22
RISKS
P62
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
16
Auto Trader Group plc
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025