CDM is your article correct?

[Craig F 0]

Car Dealer Magazine team; I was reading your article regarding Marsh Holdings and their record Turnover Figure but wondered if you had made a mistake? The article looks a big success story and I know they do a very good job in terms of customer service, their dealerships are always immaculate as I am based in their part of the world so from the outside looking in can't fault their operation and way they do business.

However on reading the article showing their £31.1 Million turnover it then goes on to state their Pre-Tax profit rose to £69,190. Now I appreciate there could be more behind that Pre Tax Profit figure if they have settled maybe some heavy borrowing or invested in property etc but is this really the state the Motor Trade is in when a success story is publishing that headline Turnover figure followed by their last 2 years Pre Tax Profit figures at £38k and £69k!? Is there a mistake with those profit figures?

If that is correct for me it just looks very sad how the whole Motor Trade business model is celebrating huge turnover figures rather than actually making some money at the end of the daily grind and pain most of us have to endure to try and make the business stack up.

http://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/marsh-holdings-pushes-turnover-past-30m-2017/153857

[twerp 69]

With these groups the idea is to maintain positive cash flow in anticipation of buy out / acquisition / merger

[Area 51 33]

Its called their exit strategy... Anyone else in the business have one?

[Nick M.K. 574]

Nothing wrong growing your business with minimum corporation tax and investor dividends to pay :-) Unless you are that investor of course...

[justina3 518]

1 hour ago, Area 51 said:

Its called their exit strategy... Anyone else in the business have one?

Yep already applied for planning for the lot 8 flats then feet up and watch repeats of corry 

[Nick M.K. 574]

11 minutes ago, justina3 said:

Yep already applied for planning for the lot 8 flats then feet up and watch repeats of corry 

A friend of mine with a nice corner lot in West London is thinking along the same lines but he wants a flat for each car currently in stock. The planning department has already said yes to 24 flats but he wants a high rise with nearly 40 :-)

[trade vet 697]

38 minutes ago, Nick M.K. said:

A friend of mine with a nice corner lot in West London is thinking along the same lines but he wants a flat for each car currently in stock. The planning department has already said yes to 24 flats but he wants a high rise with nearly 40 :-)

If it is the same department that advised on Grenfell,I hope he gets it through before they get locked up.

[Nick M.K. 574]

11 minutes ago, trade vet said:

If it is the same department that advised on Grenfell

It wouldn't be, he is nearer to Heathrow than to Kensington & Chelsea. 40 flats in K&C would be a nice exit strategy for a small independent dealer though...

[trade vet 697]

Marsh Holdings.....Had a look at their figures.You can’t blame them putting some spin on their results.The directors who don’t earn that much appear to be on a treadmill ,£30m sales,£40k net profit,huge staff wage bill and £5m creditors.They are in Devon,maybe they should consult AD,he could glance at their pitches in a single day and tell them how to improve sales.Some of these franchised dealers with their talk of social media traffic ,website hits etc forget about their forecourts which are their shopwindows and they subsequently miss out on loads of passing trade.....Could they be one of them.

[Arfur Dealy 823]

13 minutes ago, trade vet said:

Marsh Holdings.....Had a look at their figures.You can’t blame them putting some spin on their results.The directors who don’t earn that much appear to be on a treadmill ,£30m sales,£40k net profit,huge staff wage bill and £5m creditors.They are in Devon,maybe they should consult AD,he could glance at their pitches in a single day and tell them how to improve sales.Some of these franchised dealers with their talk of social media traffic ,website hits etc forget about their forecourts which are their shopwindows and they subsequently miss out on loads of passing trade.....Could they be one of them.

Agreed....... Now the first thing you do is get rid of those POINTY fecking shoes !!! 

[BHM 994]

25 minutes ago, Nick M.K. said:

It wouldn't be, he is nearer to Heathrow than to Kensington & Chelsea. 40 flats in K&C would be a nice exit strategy for a small independent dealer though...

I know the prices in K&C and a plot for 40 would be a nice exit strategy for everyone on this forum! 

 

 Back on track. £30,000,000 sales, £5,000,000 debt to generate a huge profit of errr...£40,000   I assume there’s a lot of reinvestment in the business taken place, probably better than money sat in the bank.

[trade vet 697]

9 minutes ago, BHM said:

I know the prices in K&C and a plot for 40 would be a nice exit strategy for everyone on this forum! 

 

 Back on track. £30,000,000 sales, £5,000,000 debt to generate a huge profit of errr...£40,000   I assume there’s a lot of reinvestment in the business taken place, probably better than money sat in the bank.

I hope you are right.

[Craig F 0]

Well in terms of their dealership presentation etc I know they will be right on top of this as the owner is a pretty sharp operator with a keen eye.

I had the pleasure of 4.5 hours on a train today to collect a car and read the Spring 2018 AM edition for the top 50 Independent Used Car dealers. Reading this further it once again was a turnover drum banging 8 or so pages. There was the occasional mention of Net Profit and in most cases it just furthered my alarm at the retained margin out of such vast volumes of turnover and volume of transactions. The difference between being in + position as opposed to negative - is a very, very fine line.

My business model of using my own funds and wanting to take a higher margin from a £25k car than a £8k is clearly well out of date. When I sit and discuss Motortrade facts and figures with people in other industries they all tend to just look at it as total brain damage!

[trade vet 697]

19 minutes ago, Craig F said:

Well in terms of their dealership presentation etc I know they will be right on top of this as the owner is a pretty sharp operator with a keen eye.

I had the pleasure of 4.5 hours on a train today to collect a car and read the Spring 2018 AM edition for the top 50 Independent Used Car dealers. Reading this further it once again was a turnover drum banging 8 or so pages. There was the occasional mention of Net Profit and in most cases it just furthered my alarm at the retained margin out of such vast volumes of turnover and volume of transactions. The difference between being in + position as opposed to negative - is a very, very fine line.

My business model of using my own funds and wanting to take a higher margin from a £25k car than a £8k is clearly well out of date. When I sit and discuss Motortrade facts and figures with people in other industries they all tend to just look at it as total brain damage!

I agree,they don’t believe you when you explain that most dealerships carry a load of debt and  net 1p in the £ and that is considered acceptable.