290224 MT Chapelhouse Southport PR8 3NG
PHIL CLAY
A tougher used car market dented Chapel House’s performance with pre-tax profits down 51.2% to £1.8m on turnover up 4.5% to £117.9m in the year to 30 June 2024.
In results posted at Companies House the directors said they were satisfied with the performance of the company and it had reduced costs during the year with streamlined administrative and reporting processes, haven already moved to one company trading status.
“This has helped with reducing costs and increasing efficiencies across the group.
“The implementation of updated systems now embedded into our business has enabled our staff to deliver a better experience for the customer when contacting and transacting with ourselves.
“This investment has helped increase customer retention and improved contact with new customers which should deliver a better return for our business.
Chapelhouse said although it had seen strong demand for both new and used vehicles gross margin had decreased from 13.1% to 11.4%, primarily due to changing market conditions in the used vehicle sector.
Gross profit was therefore down from £14.7 to £13.5m with profit before tax decreasing from £3.3m to £1.8m.
“For the group this is a return on sales to net profit margin with a return of 1.5% in the current reporting period,” it said.
