Scottish automotive group Peter Vardy has reported increased earnings before tax of £14.26m and a 3.2 per cent return on sales during the pandemic year to 31 December 2020.
While turnover fell by 6.5% from £471m to £440m due to Covid restrictions causing dealerships to close their doors for around a quarter of the year, a record 42% of sales were transacted online.
Chief executive Peter Vardy said: “2020 will be remembered as a terribly difficult period for society which profoundly influenced our colleagues, guests and communities in which we serve.
“As we now emerge from the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, we are prioritising growing the business, creating new employment opportunities and continue to develop our Net Better Off Programme for our colleagues.”
As part of this process, the group has sustained its digital sales focus with the roll out of a new sales structure across the group, supported by the SilverBullet online sales platform software.
During the pandemic, Peter Vardy's colleague support welfare plan focused on a ‘no redundancies’ policy, with hardship loans and accelerated development of its pre-existing Wellness Hub.
Set up as a single dealership in Perth in 2006, the group has grown to 14 dealerships across Scotland, employing more than 1,100 people.
It operates eight CARZ supermarkets in Aberdeen, Dalgety Bay, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Kirkcaldy, Motherwell and Perth.
In addition, the group runs dealerships selling Jaguar, Land Rover, Porsche, BMW, and MINI vehicles and a Heritage dealership for classic cars.
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