Good morning, welcome to the presentation of our latest preliminary results for the year ended February 2026. My name is Robert Forrester, Chief Executive. I'm joined by Karen Anderson, our long-standing Chief Financial Officer. The group, I think, has proven during the year that it can focus on controlling the controllable elements of the business despite significant external challenges. The aim is obviously to deliver long-term returns to shareholders. This is the 20th year we've been in business. We've got 5% of the U.K. car and van market, and the company has never lost money in a financial year. We have an excellent, resilient after-sales business, which continues to show growth. Management have been proactive in managing the business.
Our strong ethos of risk management is clearly seen in the presence of the extended insurance cover, which largely protected the business from the third-party cyber outage that we incurred with Jaguar Land Rover in the period. Our use of technology to drive productivity and very, very good customer journeys comes through. That also aided GBP 10 million of cost savings, which we actioned in recent months to aid FY 2027 profits. We have a big focus on returns for shareholders, and to date, we have, in the form of dividends and buybacks returned GBP 112 million in cash reflecting the strong underlying cash flows of the group. We announced recently another GBP 12 million buyback program.
We will make the right decisions for the long term, be it in pruning of operations that deliver poor returns, so recycling capital, in growing the Chinese brand presence to secure market share and future cash flows, and to continue to invest in leadership training and future management. We've rolled out a very successful degree apprenticeship program to strengthen our talent pipeline for the long run and in January, promoted two new managing directors. We're already feeling the benefits of that move. We have the financial and operational capacity to grow when we've got visibility on returns and when we will grow the scale of the group when the time is right. In terms of the performance, you can see here in headlines that we've got increased revenues. Profits were back.
The Zero Emission Vehicle mandate that the government has put in to target battery electric vehicles in the U.K. is weighing heavily across the U.K. automotive sector, including on ourselves. Overall profit pools in the U.K. automotive sector are reduced in the new car channel. Many auto retailers are now losing money. We remain profitable. We remain cash generative and in control of our costs. Our strong balance sheet reflects in the GBP 61 million of net debt against a very strong asset base, and that's before the receipt of GBP 3.4 million of insurance payouts on the JLR cyber attack, which we've included in FY 2026 profits. Our tangible net assets per share is up again, GBP 0.759, and we continue to sell surplus property at above net book value, showing that our property book values are indeed conservative. There are other key themes present.
The growing strength of Chinese brands in the new car market is clearly important for the long run, and it's a key issue for management to address, making choices as to which partners to partner with and the speed of growth. The FCA stance on motor finance claims rumbles on. We've had a redress scheme announced, and we've now had a redress scheme postponed, clearly aimed at lenders rather than the credit brokers such as us. Overall, we're in control of the business. We're controlling the controllables and looking to seize opportunities. If we turn to current trading in the months of March and April, we're delighted to show that we've had a strong start to the financial year with growing profitability above last year levels. There's a number of reasons for this. We've had the positive impact of last year's closures among underperforming dealerships.
Our startup and acquisitions are starting to mature, and the cost savings that have been delivered are clearly helping. The profit bridge here shows two very interesting trends. The first is the growth in the new retail and Motability market, which has been in decline for much of the past two or three years. The reason for that growth is that the manufacturers are actually starting now to push the retail channel to overcome their increased reliance on low-margin fleet. The Chinese are coming into the market with a cost advantage, and that is driving growth. We're of the view actually that the growth in the new car market is partly, and it's debatable how much, but it's certainly there, that the Chinese are switching used car customers with two or three-year-old cars into relatively affordable PCPs on new cars.
We think that explains a lot of the growth. The market has also seen increased levels of pre-registration activity in new cars, which flatters the SMMT registration statistics. It's good to see growth, particularly as well the return to growth in the Motability market, which was down heavily last year. That's generated more gross profit. We have seen what we think is startling growth again in our after-sales business with GBP 2.9 million more gross profit in the core business in the two months. Record labor sales were achieved in the month of March.
We are seeing a benefit in terms of efficiency in our service departments because a lot of the portfolio now does not open for service on a Saturday, and that is increasing the efficiency and profitability of our service departments. If we turn to fleet and commercial new vehicle sales, this actually showed a modest decline in gross profit, which is unusual. Last year, in March, we saw significant deliveries of high margin pickup sales in the commercial vehicle arena ahead of tax changes, which clearly we didn't get this year. We are seeing major growth in volumes, and if you see in the fleet car area, we were up 32% in the two months. However, we are seeing a knock on margins due to channel mix. Vans historically have a higher margin than cars, and we are entering into car markets with slightly reduced margins.
We think we'll benefit in the full year from growth. The van market itself remains subdued. We're delighted that we grew by 8.5% like for like, taking good share. It is a major focus of ourselves to grow our fleet and van volumes this year. The used channel is very steady. We sense that certainly premium used car demand is being impacted by the growth of new cars in the Chinese. We do expect growth in the year in the used car channel. If we turn to outlook, what of the outlook? Well, we can all name significant headwinds and imagine all kinds of problems ahead of us from impact of oil supply to growing inflation due to the Middle East war and lack of economic growth in the United Kingdom.
If we take the oil issue, I think the biggest concern around the Middle Eastern war, apart from the wider impact on the economy, is actually oil supply itself. We cannot service petrol and diesel cars without motor oil. That's a pretty fruitless task. However, we have stockpiled supplies of motor oil to mitigate supply disruption. We think that will stand us in good stead if the dislocation continues. We remain very focused on costs and cost control and we've got a number of initiatives to grow sales and profits going forward, including a new initiative in the used car arena, which I'll talk about more in due course. The Zero Emission Vehicle mandate is not going away. In fact, the targets for cars and vans are the major drag on activity in the whole automotive sector and indeed profits. They remain.
In fact, they ratchet up. This is the highest level of state intervention since the 1970s when the government actually owned the car plants. It is set to get worse. We expect the government to act in relation to wholesale feedback from the whole automotive chain from parts suppliers through to manufacturers through to retailers. There will have to be some change to that policy going forward. We look at our strategy. This slide has remained consistent and is likely to do so. We are committed to growing the scale of the group.
However, in the past 12 months and actually in the near term, the economic uncertainty and the impact of the ZEV mandate does reduce visibility of returns, and we have concluded that it wasn't the right time and isn't the right time for expansion unless there are strategic opportunities at very, very much the right value. This may happen in terms of the distress in the sector, we will clearly look at opportunities and assess them. We have been allocating capital to buybacks and portfolio reconfiguring rather than acquisitions, and that is likely to remain the case. As things change, we'll clearly look at opportunities. We've got the management, the systems, the strong core business, the financial firepower to attack when we consider it right to do so, and we feel we are well-positioned to do so. What's the external environment?
I think one word that most people would use is volatile. There are four key elements of change, which has affected the financial year and some of them going forward. The first is obviously the ZEV mandate. I've talked a lot about this over the last two, three years. The targets set by the government for battery electric vehicle mix will not be hit in cars or in vans. In fact, the SMMT have recently reduced the % of battery electric vehicles they expect in 2026 in the car side. We are not going to achieve the ratcheted up targets to 80% of BEV mix by 2030. In fact, the policy defies basic economics. It forces manufacturers to heavily discount and retailers to discount to hit targets, reducing cash flow for further reinvestment.
There will be, in all likelihood, a change in the policy because of the immense pressure that is being put on the government from the impact of this policy. It's likely that the battery electric vehicle mixes will be reduced out to 2035 or even 2040 with more alignment with the European Union. The second area is the well-documented rise of Chinese brands, which you can see with your own eyes on Britain's roads. The Chinese-owned manufacturing brands had a 14% share of the U.K. market year to date, and indeed, Chery's QQ7 was the best-selling car in March. We will and are expanding with the Chinese, it is nuanced. Not all of the entrants into the United Kingdom will be successful. Traditional players in our portfolio make good profits around very strong aftersales from years and years of selling cars.
The Chinese have no aftersales when they enter the U.K. We therefore apply our consistent investment models to seek to maximize returns and profits over a three-year timeframe. We may indeed go slower than others, but we are ultimately seen as a desirable partner for new entrants and will gain share over time in a deliberate manner, and that we can accelerate that through acquisition or indeed brands changing their representation plans over time. We are not concerned about the speed with which we are taking on Chinese brands. The third area is the FCA Motor Commission review. The redress scheme was announced. It's now been announced it will be postponed, and that's because it's being challenged, as well-documented in the press. The redress is aimed primarily at lenders, and therefore, we've been consistent in not making provisions in this area, and that remains the case today.
We will, however, be working with lenders on providing data so they can deal with claims as and when they arise. The regulatory uncertainty and the retrospective changes to the profitability of the lenders could indeed have a damaging impact going forward on the financial sector. If people aren't clear that the rules might not change in the future and lose confidence, then motor financing could be difficult with tighter supply. We're not seeing any changes in current supply, but it is worth noting that two of the major providers of used car finance have reduced their exposure to the U.K. or announced their intention to do so, and an independent player, according to press speculation, looks like it will go into administration. The regulatory machinations of recent years could very well have an impact on future supply.
We've clearly also got the Jaguar Land Rover cyberattack, which clearly is now finished and complete. We were very pleased with how Jaguar Land Rover reacted to the outages that they saw in September. They got production back up quicker. It is now back to normality. We originally, in October, set out, we thought the impact could be up to GBP 5.5 million. At the end, it was GBP 3.9 million. The insurance policy that we had has now paid out GBP 3.4 million, and hopefully that issue is now behind us. We've had to work nimbly and intentionally to manage the business through a period of some turbulence, which indeed continues. We have not been distracted by major acquisitions, and actually, I think that has helped because we haven't been in integration mode.
We've been focusing on what we control. Here are the areas that I think are worthy of discussion. In terms of digitalization, the business has always been very tech-focused. Our systems are generally seen as sector-leading. We have 60 in-house developers. This area is undergoing absolutely major change in recent months almost, with the impact of AI coding, which leads to much faster development. Our team are busy being retrained, indeed, we're taking on AI specialists. We've seen great use of AI deployed in our contact center environment and also in the sales environment, where we've built our own large language model looking at 30,000 inbound sales phone calls where we can now see a projected conversion for each call. It also prompts our teams on what the next steps are in the sales process.
What are the hot buttons? What should you not say? It also helps our regulatory risk. There's some great work being done here. There's more to come. The finance efficiency project, which we've talked about and has been led by Karen, has delivered real savings in removing manual processing. There is more to come, but we're delighted with progress there. The investment in the data warehouse and customer data platform in recent years is now being extended in terms of the number of use cases. That is helping efficiency and indeed aiding our conversion in marketing by having more targeted, personalized marketing. In terms of the web, I think I highlighted to shareholders about 18 months ago that we thought we were off the pace with regards to search engine optimization and the way our websites drove and held search engine optimization.
I'm pleased to report that the modular changes made to our website are now fairly well complete. It is now designed to drive SEO performance, and our SEO performance is now much better with a leading visibility score in the sector. That's allowed us to rebalance our pay-per-click spend, which I think we over-indexed in. We're now investing in YouTube as a channel with car reviews that helps SEO, especially in an age of increasing AI search and rich content. We're increasing the number of the online car reviews, and that's driving more engagement. I'll now pass to Karen to discuss the cost reductions.
Thank you, Robert. The group took very proactive action on costs and undertook, for the second consecutive year a significant cost reduction program. We anticipate that we'll deliver GBP 10 million of cost savings in FY 2027, so the current financial year, as a result of this latest exercise. This included a further headcount reduction of approximately 280 colleagues, and that's over and above the 290 colleagues we took out last year. That's anticipated to deliver a GBP 7 million cost saving. We were able to do that as a result of some of the efficiency initiatives that Robert's just outlined. The avoidance of losses from closed dealerships that we identified as part of our pruning process adds a further GBP 400,000 of cost savings.
We anticipate marketing cost savings, both as a result of reduction in sponsorship and partnership arrangements, as well as capturing the benefits of the one brand that we went to in April and the efficiency that gives us. In terms of other savings, the majority of this represents the introduction of charging for wash and vacuum in our group's volume dealership service departments, which generates a significant saving on valet costs. We also have energy savings coming through from an additional investment in solar, and we've optimized each and every one of our group supply arrangements in order to reduce costs where we could.
Finally, the group started to trial building management systems with some good early results in terms of reduction in utility costs. We're expecting to further extend this project in the coming months, which will help us further reduce costs over and above the GBP 10 million that we anticipated.
Let's turn to portfolio development, and the big subject here is where we're going with Chinese brands. We are repositioning our portfolio with more Chinese brand exposure, either by reconfiguring existing sites to add additional franchises or removing traditional brands in some cases and replacing them with the Chinese. I visited China in March, and the two managing directors independently visited China in April for the Beijing Motor Show. In terms of key learnings from that, Chinese car factories are currently running at about 55% capacity, which is unheard of in the Western world, and indeed shows you the amount of oversupply in the Chinese car market. This is not helped by a major decline in battery electric vehicle sales in China since subsidies were ended by the Chinese government in December 2025.
The domestic market is currently running about 22% back year-on-year. This goes hand in hand with a switch to exports, of which the U.K. is clearly very important. BYD, for example, now exporting 46% of their volume outside China. In China itself, there is massive oversupply, real problems with discounting, real pressure on manufacturers and domestic retailers from a profit standpoint. The U.K. is very much seen as the place to go. We are one of the few places in the world with very low tariffs on Chinese cars. The Chinese are coming with technologically advanced cars and also with a cost advantage. We have identified four major players, BYD, which is preeminent in the battery electric vehicle market in China. We've now got five outlets. Geely, which actually also owns Volvo.
We've now got three outlets with them with more to come. The Chery family of brands, which includes Jaecoo, Omoda, and Exlantix, as well as the Chery brand. We have plans to engage with sites across those brands over the next five to six months. The final one is the long-standing MG brand in the U.K., owned by SAIC. We've always been a strong partner with MG with a close relationship, and they are our four key pillars. In addition, Stellantis, which owns Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroën, actually part-own a Chinese brand called Leapmotor, and we will be adding Leapmotor into a number of our Vauxhall sites over the coming months. Chinese representation is a major area to watch going forward.
In terms of identifying opportunities we can control as opposed to relying on the market, the selling of older used cars has been on the agenda for a while. On the 1 April, we launched a new initiative in this area. Clearly, with people's living standards in the U.K. under pressure, it's no great surprise that the element of the used car market with the highest growth is for cars over seven years old. Historically, this is not a core market for franchise retailers, only 11% of our current used car sales are in this bracket. We actually have the cars coming in in part exchange, have been trading them to auction houses as opposed to retailing them ourselves. From the 1 April, this changes to mean we attack this growing segment. We've got revised preparation standards.
We've procured cheaper parts to use in reconditioning, and we've got new finance and warranty products. In terms of the impact of this, a margin on average on our used cars are around 7%. If you sell a GBP 9,000 car for a GBP 2,000 profit, you can make 22%. This really, I think, helps margins, helps grow volumes, and provides us with future service work when we sell service plans. We got on down very well with management. I think we made a good start. The business is really based on having very good people. We've got a strong operational business due to stable management, long-term investment in training at all levels, including leadership development. The results from this are very clear on the right-hand side. We have high levels of colleague satisfaction.
We have high customer experience scores measured by the manufacturers, which then aids customer retention well above national average levels. In the promotion of two of our operational directors to managing director on the first of January, the operations of the business, the operating divisions now report to them and not me. That has given more capacity for the group to both operationally work much more tightly but also make much better decisions. I'm spending my time more with the manufacturers, visiting dealerships, getting together with our strategic partnerships and close suppliers, and also meeting key customers. I think we are seeing the benefits.
Thank you. Slide 16 shows a summarized income statement. Group revenues grew by approximately GBP 70 million , with this growth attributed to acquisitions and new business startups. Core group revenues saw a very small 0.7% decline. The introduction of the agency model in MINI, in the MINI and Honda franchises reduced revenue in the core group by approximately GBP 70 million year-on-year. Gross margins were stable at 11.2%, that's despite the well-publicized reduction in fleet and new vehicle margins due to the impact of the ZEV mandate. We managed to offset this with a higher mix of after-sales revenues and of course, the impact of agency I've just described.
Costs as a percentage of revenue would have been stable at around 10.1% if the impact of the agency model on revenue was removed, reflecting the strong cost control in the group. Adjusted operating profit reduced on prior levels, driven by the reduction of profitability from the sale of new vehicles in both the retail and fleet channels. The group's interest costs reduced by GBP 1.1 million compared to prior year. This is driven by reduced interest rates and the reduction in the outstanding mortgage balance as the instrument is repaid over time. Non-underlying costs represent the cost of the group's reorganization and cost-cutting programs I described earlier. Also includes some impairment provisions as the group worked hard to reduce its cost base in the light of the declining new vehicle profitability and cost headwinds.
Turning to slide 17, unusually for us, we have two profit bridges represented. The top one showing the normal core group in total, the second showing the separate impact of the JLR cyber attack within the overall core group movements. Core group gross profit declined by GBP 4.3 million over the prior year, driven largely by the impact of reduced new vehicle profitability and of course, the JLR cyber attack, which amounted to GBP 3.9 million of the total. The standout negative here, as you can see, is the GBP 8.7 million reduction in gross profit from new vehicle sales, retail and Motability. This is the second consecutive year of declining new vehicle profitability for the group, which saw a GBP 10.9 million reduction on this measure last year. The reasons for this are clear.
Significant discounting of battery electric vehicles by manufacturers striving to hit government targets, which has impacted our margins and a reduction in Motability sales volumes. Offsetting this new car shortfall was the significantly improved gross profit generation from the group's resilient and high margin after-sales operations, which generated an additional GBP 8.4 million of gross profit year on year. Approximately GBP 4 million of this uplift is due to the increase in internal rates that the after-sales departments charge the vehicle department for the preparation of vehicles for sale. With the majority of this increased cost in service having been absorbed by the used vehicle sales department.
Used gross profit generation in the core group was stable, and this was a good result considering the absorption of both the increase in the internal rate I've just described, and of course, the impact of the JLR cyber-attack on the department, which reduced gross profit by GBP 1.7 million. As anticipated, core group operating expenses grew year-on-year, and I'll cover these in more detail in the next slide. Remember that the core group operating expenses include the benefit of the insurance payout of GBP 3.4 million in respect of the JLR cyber-attack. I've already covered the year-on-year reduction in finance costs. Contributions from dealerships acquired or started up represents a year-on-year movement of just GBP 0.1 million. With losses in start-up operations, current year acquisitions driven by timing, offset by improved profit year-on-year from the Burrows acquisition.
Turning over to slide 18, this shows more detail on the core and total group underlying expenses. Core group operating expenses rose GBP 1.1 million over the year. That's below the rate of the inflation for the same period, and this excludes the impact of the JLR insurance settlement, as you can see from the table. The single biggest cost of the group is salary costs, remembering that the figures on this slide do not include the productive cost of technicians, which are included in cost of sale. Salary costs in the core group rose GBP 3.8 million on 1.5%. This is despite the notable headwinds driven by the 2025 budget increases in employers' national insurance and increases in the national minimum wage.
The group has worked hard to reduce headcount and undertook, if you remember, a significant headcount reduction at the program at the end of FY 2025 to offset the estimated GBP 10 million annual cost of that budget. In light of the continued and unavoidable cost pressure, we obviously took the further cost reduction exercise at the end of FY 2026, which I'll describe the cost of which in more detail on my next slide, but I've obviously already pointed out the savings. Marketing costs increased, reflecting the investment in the single Vertu brand and in three group-wide sales events. As we've already seen, marketing cost savings have been targeted for FY 2027, as we see the benefit of efficiency of the single brand and have reduced sponsorship spending.
The significant reduction in vehicle and valet costs has been aided by the introduction of charging for service wash and vacuum in the group's volume dealerships. The cost saving was also aided by tighter control of our demonstrator and courtesy vehicle fleets. The increase in property costs largely relates to business rates, which represent a significant cost to the group, and where we had been very successful in securing rates rebates for FY 2025, following a number of successful rates appeals. The growth in the size of the group, and therefore in the number of senior managers awarded options under the group's Partnership Share Scheme, has seen costs rise over time in terms of share-based payments. Awards for FY 2027 were reduced to half previous levels, reflective of the reduction in group profitability. Slide 19 analyzes our non-underlying items which were incurred in the year.
Exceptional costs of GBP 5.1 million include the cost of the redundancy program undertaken at the end of this current end of FY 2026, which reduced headcount by a further 280 colleagues over and above the 290 colleagues taken out at the end of FY 2025. Impairment charges of GBP 1.3 million include the impairment of goodwill in the group's Motorrad dealerships following disappointing profit performances from the sites in the last two years. In addition, lease or property impairments have been taken in respect of two sales outlets, where performance has been below required levels, and we are looking at changes for the locations. Dealership closure costs, which do not include the cost of redundancy of colleagues at the site, which are included in the redundancy figure I've previously described.
These include clearance, asset provisions, and where applicable, any remaining lease costs. A property remediation provision has been taken in respect of a failed roof at one of the group's larger dealerships. Expert reports were obtained to highlight the extent of the remediation required, and the board is currently evaluating whether a legal claim can be made in respect of this defect. Finally, profits on the sale of surplus properties and the sale of businesses of GBP 9.9 million have been offset against non-underlying costs. Turning over to slide 20, this shows the group's balance sheet. The balance sheet is very stable and strong, underpinned by the freeholder and long leasehold property portfolio of GBP 327 million prudently carried at historic depreciated cost.
Four of the five properties held for sale at the start of the financial year, i.e., 1 March 2025, have been sold during the financial year we're reporting on, generating cash proceeds of GBP 5.1 million and a profit on disposal of half a million pounds, in illustration of the prudent level which we carry our properties. Working capital was stable year-on-year, with unencumbered used vehicle stock at a value of GBP 174 million included in there. Tangible net assets per share are GBP 0.759, this clearly reflects the strong asset backing of the group and has increased on last year's GBP 0.729, aided a little by the share buyback, which was conducted at prices below tangible net asset per share.
Turning on to slide 21, this is the group's cash flows for the year. The group generated a free cash inflow of GBP 30.7 million. The working capital movement was minimal during the year, with notable movements within this minimal figure being an GBP 8 million outflow arising from an increase in used vehicle stock, an GBP 5 million outflow from reduced customer vehicle deposits, partly due to the move to agency model in certain of our franchises. These outflows were more than offset by a reduction in trade receivables, driven by the timing of fleet customer receipts around year-end. Sustaining capital expenditure of GBP 30 million was spent in the period, with this partially offset by proceeds from sale of surplus properties and other assets of GBP 5.3 million.
A further GBP 8.2 million has been spent in the period on capital projects which enhance the operating capacity of the group and freehold and business acquisitions during the year. Net debt at the end of the year was GBP 61.3 million, excluding lease liabilities, representing a GBP 5.3 million decrease on last year's figure. Final slide once again covers the group's capital allocation discipline. The group continues to seek a balance between investment and growth, targeting returns in an excess of weighted average cost of capital in order to deliver on our strategic objectives and shareholder returns. As Robert's already mentioned, the key element of our approach to capital allocation is pruning, where we consistently review dealership operations to ensure adequate returns on investment and contributions to group profitability.
Following such reviews, the group's exited several sites during the year, as listed on this slide. The group has had a program of share buybacks in place since FY 2018. The group has spent GBP 10.7 million in the year on buybacks. Since the start of these programs, we've bought now back over 21% of issued shares for a total of GBP 46.5 million. The group announced a further GBP 12 million share buyback program in March for execution in FY 2027. Finally, the group's actually paid GBP 65.3 million in dividends since we started paying dividends back in January 2011. The FY 2026 final dividend of GBP 0.0115 per share holds the dividend overall at last year's level of GBP 0.0205 per share.
That is a cover compared to adjusted fully diluted EPS of 2.6 times, in line with the group's stated dividend policy on this measure. I'll now hand back to Robert for a more detailed update on trading in the year.
Thank you, Karen. If we turn to new vehicle sales performance, you can clearly see here it's been a mix of growth in some channels and declines in others. The financial year saw a new car market dominated by fleet, the rise of Chinese brands, and massive distortions created by the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate, which forced discounts in a market that's unrecognizable as a free market. The new retail channel saw growth by the group. However, it underperformed the SMMT registration numbers for two reasons, one, Chinese brand representation being lower in our group than the market, partly actually because of the like-for-like calculations, but also the growth of pre-registration, which goes through our sales as used, but the market puts them through new retail registrations.
Motability saw major declines throughout the year due to change cycle timings, which have now reversed in March and April. The group continued to pick up share in its Motability's biggest partner. There were major share gains in fleet car market. We acted to the weakness in the van market and the pressure on the retail channel by really going out with resources and focus to grow in the fleet car channel. That remains to be the case. The market was clearly bolstered by battery electric vehicle sales through fleet as manufacturers pushed product through the broker channels, salary sacrifice schemes, and indeed public sector fleet channels. You can see, top right, the fleet market was 33% battery electric vehicle, where the retail market was 15%.
While it is fair to say that electric vehicle grants introduced by the government during the course of the year helped, the retail mix is still very low indeed at around 15%, considering the target is now 33%. The group, I'm pleased to say, outperformed for the second year running in private battery electric vehicle sales. The market was up 50%, but we were up 71%. We continued to focus to drive battery electric vehicle sales through the business because that significantly helped our manufacturers hit their targets. The van market was clearly down 8.6% in the market. We were actually down 10%. There are key issues driving this market backwards. One, clearly, is business confidence, which was on the floor during the period.
The second was the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate for vans, which we have not discussed that much. Bear in mind that in 2026, there is a mandate of 24% battery electric vehicle mix. The market last year, indeed this year, is running at about 9%. Remember that the fines for vans are GBP 15,000 per van as opposed to cars', GBP 12,000. This market is stuck. We will not see big increases, and that is certainly an area the government needs to address. Fleet and commercial margins actually reduced in the period. This is actually largely due to mix. Vans have higher margin historically than car, indeed some of the new fleet business we did at slightly lower margins. It was the reduction in van volumes, however, which reduced our gross profit by GBP 4.2 million.
Overall, we are 5% of the car and van market and are clearly pleased with that. A further acquisition grows will clearly enhance that. We turn to used vehicle sales. This was a period really of stability in terms of demand and supply. The weakest residuals we're seeing in battery electric vehicles. That is no surprise given the oversupply compared to demand in that market. I think residuals have stabilized, but they do depreciate faster than petrol and diesel cars. They're also, as a result of the oil shock, we've seen recent concern over large diesel car residuals, which in an oil shock with high diesel prices tend to accelerate depreciation. That is clearly one to watch.
It was good to get back to volume growth in H2, because that is despite very strong new car offers, which have taken, I think, some used car business, and indeed, the Chinese coming out with cheaper payments and moving some used car business into new. We're pleased with our performance. We think we outperformed on Auto Trader's metrics, the overall franchised daily used car market. Stable margins was quite an achievement given the fact we transferred GBP 3.4 million of extra labor costs on internal preparation of cars into the used car department. I think it's fair to say that our insights algorithmic pricing is doing its job in terms of helping with margins and stock turn. Finally, if we turn to aftersales, we've left the best to last.
This is the star of the show for sure, with gross profit growth in all areas. There are now 42.5 million vehicles on Britain's roads. That's an historic record. That clearly drives aftersales demand. It will not surprise you to know that tire sales are going exceptionally well since with the rise in British vehicles, we also have the historic rise in number of potholes and the average depth of a pothole, which is driving our tire sales. There is no major impact in our business at the moment on electrification. We think electrification will be a very slow process. However, when we look at fleet work less than three years old, we are seeing a decline in average invoice value as a consequence of electrification.
However, we believe that we get more retention in battery electric vehicles, which is what we've said in the past when asked the question. Also, modern vehicles with software and radar and batteries have a tendency to go wrong, particularly around software, they do lead to rather large repair costs when they come in. The growth in March and April showed the opportunity in aftersales through execution and the appropriate strategies. We think it will be resilient for many years to come, BEV sales are frankly unlikely to ramp up as originally planned anyway. The key to success in all these areas really is operational execution. It is driving service plans, when a customer buys a new or a used car, they go out with a service plan to absolutely make sure they come back for a service.
It's having high levels of customer experience, which we deliver, and also having a vehicle health check process to make sure we've safe to check the car, that we sell the additional work that's needed, including tires, and that we've significantly increased conversion and profitability in this area with our V-Pay pay later product. Now, accident repair centers, which are body shops in common parlance, they actually saw weaker demand. We think just the increasing number of cars with radar to tell the driver that there's a potential hazard ahead is having a material impact on the number of accidents. If there's more cars than vans on the road, you'd expect accidents to go up due to congestion, but accidents are actually down about 25%. However, saying that, the smart repair business continued to expand.
Overall, between accident repair and smart repair, we saw a GBP 2 million increase in gross profit and better margins. We are pleased with that. All channels delivered more. Finally, we think the group is exceedingly well-positioned. We are stable. We're well capitalized. We're asset backed. We do have the firepower in terms of management and financials to expand our operations and scale. Our digitalization gathers pace in terms of its impact, benefiting customers and profitability. Our people are stable. They want to work here. They're delivering high levels of customer experience, and that is a good start when you're in business. We are certainly excited by the amount of change we have to deal with. We see it as a challenge, and we think there's plenty of opportunity going forward. Thank you very much.
Thank you to Robert and Karen for the presentation. We've had a number of questions that have been pre-submitted and also submitted live. Just as a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please do so by typing it into the Q&A box, which is situated on the right-hand side of your screen. The first question that we have is, aren't you worried that cheap Chinese EVs could actually undercut and cannibalize some of the brands you already sell, particularly your volume franchises?
It's a good question. The interesting thing is when you look at part exchanges that are coming through franchises such as BYD, the top three brands where the part exchange comes in is actually BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz. Apart from the fact where you've refranchised the dealership, and clearly the franchise that we refranchised from figures fairly heavily because the customers are used to coming in.
I don't necessarily see this as massively taking share disproportionately, actually, from the volume players. I think there's more and more evidence that rather than cannibalizing new cars generally, that the Chinese manufacturers are hitting a bit of a sweet spot in taking people in, say, premium four-year-old product that was probably bought one year old as a used car and converting them into a new car. I think that's why we're seeing the growth, actually, of the new car market partly. Goes without saying that more manufacturers in the mix means that potentially profitability and volume in the others is likely to be lower than it would've been. That's likely true. That's clearly why we've got a strategy for managing that to maximize profitability over time whilst reorientating the franchise mix into more Chinese.
Thanks, Robert. Does the board see potential future issues with residual values on Chinese EVs, considering the massive recent increase in the market?
Well, I think we always have to look at demand and supply issues ahead of them occurring and trying to manage them as much as we can. For example, the very high diesel price is likely to put downward pressure on residuals of large diesel SUVs currently, for example. I think the question actually makes a fair point, that, you know, if you push a lot of supply of one thing into a market, that's going to have an impact unless demand rises to meet it structurally. I think there is gonna be quite a lot of people watching when big slugs of say Chinese product has been pushed in, comes back, and we'll have to see where demand is at, is at that point. If demand's lower than supply, you will get some price reductions.
In your interviews, Robert, you talk about used cars and the potential for higher returns, h ow exposed are you if used car prices soften?
Well, as ever, we've got GBP 170 million worth of used car stock. It tends to turn just over 30 days. As people who've studied this company and other motor retailers will note, when you get significantly large falls in residual values in used pricing, then we suffer lower margins. I mean, that is just a fact of the business. Not particularly worried about it at the moment, apart from that point around large diesel SUVs 'cause of the diesel price. I think actually the market's pretty stable. BEV residuals actually are probably strengthening a little bit, although the depreciation over time is fairly steady. Our exposure is to sudden shifts down, I would say, that are faster than our stock turn. You know, we haven't got a contract hire company with a three-year exposure.
We haven't got any buyback commitments, which can also be problematic, so I think our exposure is weaker. It, as night follows day, lower residual values impact profitability, just like post-COVID when residual values went up significantly, I think we did a profits upgrade every six weeks.
Thank you, Robert. Next question was very similar to what was You've just answered that. You've just launched the Value Cars by Vertu, going after the seven- to- 14-year-old used car market. That's quite different from your usual customer. How much are you betting on this, and what does success look like this time next year?
Okay. It's not a completely different customer. Historically, 11% of our sales, used car sales, were in the bracket of over seven years. I think it's fair to say we have simplified the way we're gonna approach this. We've got better finance in place. We've got new warranty products. We have taken the cost of preparation down and slightly reduced the cosmetic standards on these cars, and I think that does give us a good opportunity. It's quite clear that there are margin enhancements from selling older cars, 'cause profitability per unit is actually proportionally higher than the sales price. Are we betting on it? I think it's a useful strategy.
I don't think the entire future of the company is dependent on it, but I think it can give us incremental profitability, and I think we'll see that if it's successful in augmentation of used car gross profit margin percentages, growth in volume and gross profit, barring other things happening, which clearly can happen in a large business like ours. I think if we can see that 11% grow further, which I think we will actually, then I think we will declare victory.
Next question. Aftersales is always a big part of your story. Could you expand on how you see this being part of the used car story?
I think it's a very specific question in regard to the financial results for FY 2026. We increased the internal labor rate that the service department charges the used car and the new car department, but predominantly used cars, on the 1 March 2025. That effectively shifted around GBP 3 million-GBP 4 million worth of gross profit from the used car department into the service departments. We have not made that change again on the 1 March 2026, and we've got no thoughts of doing it again. We're now into like for like territory of comparing apples with apples. I think that's therefore good news when you look at the GBP 2.9 million increase in gross profit from aftersales in March and April, which is a true measure.
Used cars are a major part of aftersales because the internal customer is a high, reasonably good percentage of the work that goes through a service department as any motor retailer will know. Used cars are intrinsically part of the aftersales story as a major customer, but also providing customers. One of the things about growing used car volumes, which we're always keen on, is also making sure that the percentage, a high percentage of them, let's target 50%, for example, go out with a two- to-three -year service plan so they come back into service. The whole point, you cannot understand franchise motor retailing unless you see this dealership as a symbiotic organism that only thrives when every single department works together and is successful.
Thank you. If the market is undervaluing Vertu, why shouldn't you be more aggressive with share buybacks?
Thanks, Scott. I'll take that one if that's okay. I don't think we've not been aggressive. We've bought 21% of the company back already. We've returned to shareholders over GBP 100 million in share buybacks and dividends over time. There's a balance, isn't there, to be struck between growth and executing our growth strategy and returns to shareholders. That said, obviously a share price is below tangible net assets per share. We do see the value, that's why we've got another GBP 12 million to spend on buybacks for the year ahead. If you remember, we have got the ability to go above the MAR volume limits from time to time if we feel it's appropriate.
Thank you. Karen, I will ask this one. I think it's a very similar answer probably. Why haven't you continued the share buyback program for two months, instead focusing on the EBT fund? Do you think paying down Vertu's debt would have been a better way to spend shareholders' money?
Okay. While the EBT was buying, it seemed illogical for us to compete effectively with ourselves to continue with the share buyback. We'd be pushing our own prices up between ourselves. Actually, we are paying down debt because the mortgage is being repaid over time. With gearing as low as 17% as it was, we think that actually we've struck the right balance.
Thank you. Next question, w hat is the structure of the EBT? What are the triggers for payout? What happens to the shares purchased by EBT if performance targets are not achieved?
Okay. The employee benefit trust is merely a structure to buy shares which can be issued in satisfaction of options granted to managers as part of their remuneration. We give long-term incentive share awards to managers at general manager level and above. Those awards that go to the executives are obviously part of the remuneration report, which is approved by shareholders each year via advisory vote. The EBT merely buys and holds shares such that when individual colleagues want to exercise options that are vested, the EBT issues those with the shares or sells them on their behalf. The EBT, if targets are not achieved, will continue to hold the shares. There are clearly far fewer shares in the EBT than there are outstanding options, so we shouldn't be in that situation.
Thank you. The next question relates to Helston Garages. You paid GBP 120 million estimated for 27 garages, soon to be 24, w hat return are you getting on that investment? Currently, Vertu Motors plc is valued at GBP 195 million and owns 191 sites, less 24 for Helston. Can you explain how the allocation of funds and debt was money well spent?
Yeah. I mean, I think you've got a few things in that mix. First of all, the market capitalization of the group is clearly net of the cash paid to shareholders on the buyback, which I think from memory is about GBP 46 million.
I think you've gotta be quite careful where your starting point is. In terms of Helston, it was a strategic acquisition for us that gave us 32 dealerships, I believe, at the time down in the southwest. We have subsequently to that disposed of loss-making and what we believe were non-core businesses, and there was some property in there as well. That actually has generated GBP 12 million of cash receipts and reduced realized stock since then. That's the sort of level we're playing with. I think it's fair to say that we've got a strong business now in the southwest. We've got strong BMW dealerships, JLR businesses, as well as a number of volume businesses, and we probably have the top three Volvo businesses that go from Land's End to Somerset.
I think we're very pleased with the results we're getting out of those businesses. However, the elephant in the room really is that the business, I think we bought it in December 2022.
The sector has seen quite a significant reduction in profitability since then compared to now. You take our group on a like-for-like basis, our new car profitability has declined GBP 20 million in the last two years, and Helston is clearly part of that on a like-for-like basis. That is reducing returns as a whole in the sector. I think we're happy we made the acquisition. If we paid GBP 120 million, we've only got GBP 60 million of debt. We've clearly generated a lot of cash to pay down the debt, 'cause we did it on a, on a debt basis. I think we're pleased we're in the southwest. We're pleased with the returns we're getting. We've got very strong management down there in a strong set of franchises.
Thank you. Given the pressures on consumer finances, how are you looking at demand over the next six-to- 12 months?
The good thing about this country is there is no one consumer. The older used car strategy of Value Cars by Vertu, the seven-year plus thing, is a direct strategy reflective of the fact that a quite a significant section of the population aren't seeing real wage growth and are probably financially struggling, so therefore buying cheaper used cars is where the growth area is, for sure. If you look at Auto Trader data, that's where the growth's been for the last 24 months. I think that strategy actually works quite well. At the other end, actually, we're having a pretty good time with Ferrari, used vehicles. I think we've got to manage the business.
Downturns in the consumer clearly have an impact on aggregate demand for motor vehicles, but we've got to make sure that we take a disproportionate share and that we've got the strategies in vehicle sales to win out. The work we've done on new car events, on used car events using the Vertu brand, I think is very strong. We've just had a new car event which started a week last Thursday, and we've picked up a lot of share in that. We're very, very pleased with how that marketing and indeed the performance of the dealerships is working. Our job is to take a disproportionate share and try and come up with strategies so we overcome challenges, in most cases likely dumped on us by the government.
At what point do higher rates materially impact affordability and conversion rates?
Yeah, that's an interesting question. I think we are starting to see, because of higher interest rates in the financial system, from the 1 June, we think new car finance rates and PCPs will go up. We're starting to see a little bit of pressure in terms of used car finance rates, and clearly if the price of something goes up, you tend to get less demand, so we'll just have to work harder to overcome that. It is a fact of life. We were probably starting the year expecting, in January rates to come down. Rates are not coming down. Rates are gonna come up. There are a lot of elements, though, to overall consumer demand, in terms of confidence.
You know, you could argue the minimum wage has put extra money in people's pockets, probably at the lower end of the used car market, which is probably helpful. Again, goes back to Value Cars by Vertu. We've been through many a cycle in Vertu's 20-year history. We're 20 years old this year, I'd just remind everybody that this is a company that has actually never had a financial year where we lost money. We think we are well-positioned with low gearing to withstand any downturn.
Now, you've gone as far as writing to the government asking them to bring forward their ZEV mandate review from 2027 to 2026. Are you getting any traction there, or does it feel like you're shouting into the wind?
Well, we haven't written one letter, I can assure you. I think the government are in receipt of about 350 letters from colleagues and MPs that have been written to by local general managers. It's not just a Vertu effort. The SMMT have done excellent work with regards to putting pressure on the government around this Zero Emission mandate, which, let's be honest, is not just about cars. It's also about vans. I myself, you know, have done some work on the media. I've actually been to recently see the minister, I think there is a general acceptance that there are, quote, "A lot of challenges." What I've communicated to the government is, let's define challenges.
It's job losses, it's youngsters with no apprentices, and it's a lack of investment in the whole automotive sector, including manufacturing and tier one supply. I think the message is there, but clearly trying to get change in a period of political upheaval in the governing party is going to be slightly problematic. The economic and political pressure to amend the Zero Emission Mandate to make it more realistic and more in line with actual market reality and, quote, "Align it with the EU's position of 2035 ban," I think is pretty unstoppable. The question is, are the politicians going to listen anytime soon? I think in the, in the medium term, six months, 12 months horizon, I'm very confident. Clearly there's not much point talking to them this week.
Now, you killed off the Bristol Street Motors and the Macklin Motors brand and all went in on Vertu. That's a bold call. Has it actually worked? Are customers noticing? Are you saving the money you promised?
Well, I think Karen's outlined quite clearly that we have got planned savings in marketing this year, quite substantial ones. Actually, we I think made a good fist of it last year. I think there's work to do in growing the brand awareness of Vertu. It's clearly lower than we started, we finished off with Bristol Street Motors, but we've done it before. We've had no negative feedback at all from customers. I was in Birmingham a week last Saturday. There was no noise at all coming from customers. They fully understand it. As one general manager said when he was asked by a customer, "Who are Vertu?" He said, "They're the people that have been paying me for the last 18 years with the Bristol Street Motors brand." I'm pleased with how it's gone.
It's much simpler to operate a business with one brand than three. It makes the whole marketing piece much, much easier. We couldn't do what we'd just done on the TV last week with half a million pounds worth of TV spend on new cars if we had a group that was half the size, which effectively what Vertu or Bristol Street Motors was. It was definitely the right decision. It will prove to be the right decision, and it's gone well in the first 12 months.
You saw GBP 1.9 million in redundancy costs this year as part of restructuring. Are these staff cuts now complete, or should shareholders expect further restructuring charges in 2026 through to 2027?
Richard?
Shall I have a go?
You wanna have a go.
I'll have a go first. I don't think anybody could call an end to any degree of restructuring in such a dynamic and volatile economic and political environment.
With my opening gambit, I am sure Karen can elucidate more detail.
Yeah. I think that actually it also will depend on the rollout of some of the AI and automation things that Robert outlined earlier, which will allow us to further streamline and make more productive, which might mean we need fewer people. Certainly not in the dealership environment, but maybe in central.
Yeah. I think, we've just had two years of looking at costs and headcount clinically. I think we've got to the stage where in order to maintain the very high levels of customer experience and indeed gross profit generation, the next stage in dealerships would be counterproductive, in my view. Clearly in terms of looking at other areas and increasing use of technology, I think that's just an ongoing thing now. I think the speed of AI development is astonishing, and the way it can make businesses leaner and more productive, I think is very exciting. I think we're into a long period of transformation. Will there be other dealerships that we will quote, "prune, sell, close"?
I think that is another inevitable consequence of quite a high period of transformation with new franchises coming in, and changes in market share, but also changes in economic circumstance. We haven't got any immediate plans at the moment, but we will be actively managing the portfolio and managing the cost base.
Thank you. The next question is, what is the effect of your cost savings on customer satisfaction? In brackets they've put valeting, courtesy car, management, et cetera.
We did a lot of work on this. We didn't just introduce these changes without piloting it. The answer is people are used to menu style sales. The Ryanair example where you actually pay more for different bits. We're not at that level. I think, you know, in circumstances where labor is expensive and where there is so much pressure in the system, you have to make logical decisions. There was actually a slide in the presentation which may have been missed in when somebody asked the question. If you actually look at our current customer satisfaction scores, we are significantly better than the national average as measured by the manufacturers.
When we've done things like give people the choice about whether they want a wash and vacuum and their service, if they want it they pay GBP 6.99, that has made no difference whatsoever to our customer satisfaction scores. In terms of collection delivery, we do collection delivery, albeit we charge for it, I make absolutely no apology for that because actually we charge GBP 60. Given the high cost of labor, that actually costs us GBP 100 to deliver. There's a little bit of a balance. I think it's not correct that Mrs. Smith, who sits in the dealership diligently for three hours waiting, gets charged exactly the same as somebody working from home who's got a collection delivery both there and back and isn't hindered. I think there has to be a charge.
I think that is accepted by a lot, most people, and the industry will be moving this way, and this is a consequence of cost pressures on the economy.
Thank you. Just a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please do so by typing it into the bottom of your screen. You say Vertu is excellently positioned for sector consolidation. Are you actively looking at acquisitions right now? What size and type of deal are you targeting?
We always look at acquisitions, and we will always look at every opportunity that comes across the desk and to be honest, it's quite unusual that something happens in the sector that we weren't aware of or able to take place in. I think at the moment, as I've said, I think given the corporation tax increase from 19 to 25 and the impact of the Zero Emission mandate, returns from the sector are at a low point in the cycle. Clearly that will change in our belief when the Zero Emission mandate gets amended, and that makes investment in acquisitions harder to justify versus, say, share buyback. I think that's the point.
However, there is pressure in the system of the sector, and if you're over-leveraged and operationally challenged, I do believe there could be some distressed assets come to market, just as we're seeing in 2009, 2010, or the back end of lockdowns or whatever. We will continue to look. They could be of whatever size. You're looking at a GBP 5 billion revenue group, near as damn it, and with a 16%, 17% gearing ratio. We have the financial capacity to do it. We are very asset rich, GBP 3 million-GBP 7 million of real property, GBP 170 million of unencumbered, no stocking loan used cars. We have the financial capacity. The other question you have to ask yourself is have you got the management capacity to do it?
The management augmentation of appointing two managing directors in January has helped that. I think we've got increasing capacity. I think the core business is under control, which is good. We wouldn't want to expand if it wasn't. I think are there assets available at the right price possibly coming in the future? Are we organized and have management capacity? Yes. The next thing then is what's the returns outlook and what's the level of economic visibility? I think that's a bit weak at the moment in terms of what's the interest rate environment, what's the consumer environment, what's the political environment. I think we'd be wanting probably a little bit more visibility before we wanted to deploy much more in capital, hence why you see the continuation of the share buyback program.
The next question is, what do you view as a relatively normal mid-cycle PBT margin level? What is the bridge to get there, to get to that from here?
I'm not gonna answer that too much because I think that's, a re we in cycles or are we in structural transformation, I think is an interesting question. What I would point to is that our profit, in my opinion, is GBP 20 million lower than it would be if the government didn't intervene through the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate, and that's the sort of way that we look at it. We see that as that change as a catalyst in improving profitability. Whether the industry gets the whole of its profit pool back, and we get the extra GBP 20 million, we would see much improved circumstances for profitability if the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate was more sensible and linked to reality.
Thank you. Historically, there has a view that car dealers did not get material benefits of scale. Given all your history in the industry going back to Reg Vardy, are there more scale benefits today versus 2007, et cetera?
If you look at ICDP, which is sort of the industry European brain trust as it were. I think in Reg Vardy time, and that was like 2005, 2006, I think there was no demonstrable benefit of scale. However, I think today there definitely is. I think most people would accept that if you've got the right management being critical, backed up by the right systems, we've invested heavily in systems, then you can run scaled groups that can drive value far in excess of what you could 20 or 30 years ago.
I would also say, and this isn't necessarily a great thing, but it's a truth, that the greater complexity of operating automotive retail in terms of regulations in pretty well all areas, but let's take the FCA, make larger companies far easier to have specialists in those areas and have a very high level of compliance maybe than somebody with two dealerships. Even things down to compliance with the minimum wage, for example. I think there are definitive benefits of scale without any shadow of a question, and I think most commentators would agree. The fact that we've now got nearly 200 dealerships with one brand go on TV and spread those costs over 200 dealerships is a tangible benefit to us, and I think gets us more sales.
You could argue in the counter way that, yes, the profitability's at a low level. I'd argue that's not a lot to do with scale. That's a lot to do with the environment we find ourselves in around cost base, minimum wage, national insurance, corporation tax, and the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate.
Thank you. With five of the 125 U.K. BYD franchises, do you feel that you've the right level of BYD growth exposure?
Well, I think for BYD, I wouldn't just pick on BYD, actually. I'd say have we got the right level of exposure to the Chinese? I think this is quite nuanced. My personal view is we are growing with BYD. We're growing with Geely. We're growing with the Chery organization, and we've already got MG. Do we have the same market share in those new entrant franchises than we do in some of the core traditional ones? Absolutely not. Is it our intention to do so in the short term? No. Will we do in the long term? Yes. Why are we going slower? Because we have established relationships with traditional manufacturers that give us a good return. If you put a new entrant in a new building with no vehicle park and no aftersales, you are in for a gloomy time.
We need to balance finding showrooms, retaining our aftersales business from the traditional manufacturers, maybe through multi-franchising or authorized repairer, to keep those profit streams going. Our job is not to chase market share in the short term. Our job is to maximize shareholder returns through profitability, and we believe our strategy of engaging with the new Chinese brands, gaining expertise, gaining trust, we will therefore grow over the medium term and probably the short term. While we might lose out on market share and like for like versus SMMT, that's not what we're paid to do. We are paid to generate shareholder value and profitability, and we think our strategy in that area will do so.
Well, that is all the time we have at the present time. Robert, I'd like to hand back to you for any closing remarks.
Well, I'd like to thank everybody for giving up their time and having an interest in Vertu Motors. I think we're well positioned as a business. We're in the middle of a roadshow. My next step with Karen is we're off to visit current shareholders and prospective shareholders in London and Dublin for the rest of the week. If you are a shareholder in Vertu, thank you very much indeed. Thank you, Scott.
Thank you to Robert and Karen for joining us today. That concludes the Vertu Motors investor presentation. Please take time, a moment time to complete the short survey following this event. The recording event will be made available on Investor Meet Company, and I hope you enjoyed today's webinar. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.