Aberdeen headquartered John Clark Motor Group is celebrating record sales after passing the £1 billion mark.
The firm can trace its history in the Granite City back more than 50 years to the opening of Lothian Sports Cars in Broomhill Road.
It now boasts a range of franchises across multiple sites in Aberdeen including BMW, Nissan, MINI, Volvo, Volkswagen, Skoda, and Audi.
The past year has seen the company invest in redevelopment works at the Volvo Wellington Road site and acquire a site to expand its Skoda, Seat and Cupra dealership.
Aberdeen John Clark record sales
The firm said: “Redevelopment works were completed in Aberdeen, to support the extension of the group’s representation of the Volvo Cars franchise to a now third city in the East of Scotland market area.
“We acquired a site in Aberdeen to support 2024 expansion of a Skoda, Seat and Cupra dealership.”
Newly filed accounts for the year ending December 31 2023 show a rise in sales to £1.029bn from £914.3m recorded in 2022. Pre-tax profit has dropped to £22.9m from £25.3m in 2022.
The firm said the figures showed “positive momentum” crossing the £1bn turnover threshold.
Its aftersales operations also performed well, generating revenue growth of 9% to £94.9m.
More acquisitions in the pipeline
Last year John Clark Motor Group made 13,428 new car sales compared to 11,308 in 2022. Used car sales were 18,412 against 18,304 in 2022.
Chris Clark, group managing director, said: “Despite some notable headwinds and an again ever-changing market, we continue to deliver growth in what is now our 50th anniversary year.
“Whilst our mid-year results are in line with expectations, as many others across most industries will recognise, it is a year where we are working harder to sell more but earn less.
“That said, our financial resources remain strong, well balanced, and sufficient to support the business today and allow growth in the future as we actively pursue several acquisition opportunities.”
Investment in John Clark staff
The company said it benefitted from a “continued focus on operational efficiencies and agility to counter and optimise performance in an ever-changing market”.
This allowed them to extend staff benefits which paid off with staff headcount rising to 1,355 and an increase in retention rates to a then below industry average staff turnover ratio.
Mr Clark said: “Our teams can once again celebrate playing their part in what has been another great year for the group, and we remain incredibly grateful for all the hard work and effort that each one of our colleagues puts into their roles.
“I know we have one of the best teams in the industry and I am very proud to be part of it.”
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