John Clark: Aberdeen motor group makes ?5m city investment
A motoring group which has invested more than £5 million into Aberdeen in the last 18 months is celebrating record profits.
John Clark Motor Group can trace its history in the Granite City back more than 50 years to the opening of Lothian Sports Care in Broomhill Road.
It now boasts a range of franchises across multiple sites in Aberdeen including BMW, Nissan, MINI, Volkswagen and Audi.
Aberdeen investments
Since the start of 2022 it has made significant investments into its Aberdeen operation.
The firm said: “Early 2022 saw us buy the Autoplex site leasehold at Abbotswell Road which since 2016 has housed our Renault/Dacia franchises.
“Following reconfiguration works, we added the Alpine and then Nissan brands at this site.
“Our former Wellington Road site for Nissan was then redeveloped for Volvo and the site re-opened in June 2023.
“Across the initial Autoplex acquisition plus the relocation and redevelopment works our investment was approximately £5m.”
Record profits for John Clark
Newly filed accounts for the year ending December 31 2022 show a £4m rise in sales to £914.3m. Pre-tax profit was £25.3m compared to £24.1m in 2021[1].
The firm said this was a strong performance in the face of economic challenges from its diversified franchise portfolio and used vehicle sales operations.
Its aftersales operations also performed well, generating revenue growth of 8% to £85.8m.
The uplift in profit and sales was achieved despite fewer cars being told.
Last year John Clark Motor Group[2] made 11,308 new car sales compared to 12,065 in 2021. Used car sales were 18,304 against 20,831 in 2021.
Investment in John Clark staff
Chris Clark, group managing director, paid tribute to his staff as headcount grew last year.
He said: “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.
“A key priority throughout remained our provision of extended support to our colleagues, as we sought to help them address the impacts of numerous external financial challenges.
Chris Clark, group managing director of John Clark Motor Group. Image: John Clark Motor Group
“We did this through a mix of targeted wage reviews, provision of additional temporary cost of living support measures and utilisation of retailer benefits platforms.
“Group colleague headcount saw a slight increase from 1,269 to 1,304.
“We continued to invest in our award-winning internal training and apprentice programme.”
Future priorities for motoring group
Mr Clark said the family business would approach £1 billion sales in 2023.
He added: “Having again carried forward a higher than historic volume of new vehicle customer orders, the group continues to again generate positive trading results in 2023.
“Turnover and profit before tax values are ahead of budget, with our projected full year turnover approaching £1bn.”
He said the firm was also looking to further invest in sites in Aberdeen, Stirling, and Dunfermline.
The company is also working towards becoming a carbon neutral business by 2030. This has seen investments in solar panel technology and electric vehicle charge point infrastructure.
It has moved to green energy tariffs and created a fund to invest in sustainability projects.
References
- ^ £24.1m in 2021 (www.thecourier.co.uk)
- ^ John Clark Motor Group (www.pressandjournal.co.uk)