Vertu Motors is the UK's fourth-largest car retailer, with 196 franchised dealerships, about 7,200 staff and revenue near £5bn a year. Its profit is small against that turnover. Adjusted pre-tax profit fell from £39m in FY23 to £24.5m in FY26, then rose 19% to £23.8m in the first half of FY27 alone. The shares touched 52p in February 2025 and the latest close, on 14 October 2026, was 84.8p.
Selling cars is the shop window, servicing is the engine
Vertu runs dealerships for car makers. It sells new cars to private buyers and to fleets, vans, and cars under the Motability scheme, which leases cars to disabled customers. It also sells used cars and services vehicles. Since April 2025 all its outlets trade under one brand, Vertu.
Servicing and parts, called aftersales, earn the steadiest money. In FY26 aftersales produced over 46% of group gross profit. New cars carry thin and unpredictable margins. The company says its used-car margin was about 7% in recent years. 13 May 2026 14 May 2025 16 Oct 2024
Buying scale
Vertu was set up in November 2006 as a listed cash shell with a plan to consolidate UK car retailing. Twenty years on, it says it has been profitable every year. Growth came largely by acquisition. The Helston deal in December 2022 added 28 outlets. Rowes followed in November 2023 (four outlets, £6.2m) and Burrows in October 2024 (nine Toyota, Mazda and Kia dealerships, £12.5m).
Revenue rose from £4.0bn in FY23 to £4.7bn in FY24. Profit did not follow. Adjusted profit before tax was £80.7m in FY22 and £39.3m in FY23. The announcements do not explain the FY22 to FY23 fall. 4 Oct 2023 15 May 2024 1 Nov 2023 29 Oct 2024
Used-car slump, then the electric-car mandate
In December 2023 Vertu warned that profit would miss expectations. Used-car wholesale values had dropped 4.2% in each of October and November. The shares had stood at 85p in November 2023 and fell to 71p by December.
The bigger problem was new cars. The government's Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate forces makers to sell a rising share of battery-electric cars, with £12,000 fines per car for missing the target. Makers responded with heavy discounting and shifted volume from retail to lower-margin fleet sales. In February 2025 Vertu said FY25 profit would be significantly below expectations and reported the lowest UK new retail volumes in 25 years. The Autumn Budget added £10m of annual costs. Adjusted profit fell to £29.3m in FY25, and the dividend was cut from 2.35p to 2.05p. The shares hit 52p that month. 7 Dec 2023 6 Feb 2025 14 May 2025 5 Mar 2026
A cyber-attack and a cost reset
Vertu offset the Budget costs with cuts and closed some outlets. It took £5.1m of one-off closure and restructuring charges in FY26. A cyber-attack on Jaguar Land Rover in September 2025 shut down supply and servicing at Vertu's 10 JLR sites. The company first estimated a hit of up to £5.5m. The loss came in at £3.9m, and insurance paid £3.4m net of a £0.5m deductible. FY26 adjusted profit was £24.5m, slightly ahead of expectations. 8 Oct 2025 5 Mar 2026 30 Apr 2026 13 May 2026
What explains the record
Two things drove the swings. First, new-car profit depends on government policy and how makers react to it, which Vertu cannot control. The company says the pressure will likely last to 2030 even if the mandate is eased. Second, used-car margins move with wholesale prices. Servicing has been the offset. In FY26 it grew while new-car profit shrank.
Scale by acquisition lifted revenue but did not protect profit when margins fell. 13 May 2026 14 Oct 2026 7 Dec 2023
Cut costs, chase new brands, buy back shares
Chief executive Robert Forrester and chairman Andy Goss have kept the same playbook. They cut costs: a £10m annual saving was delivered ahead of FY27, and like-for-like costs in H1 FY27 fell slightly as a share of revenue. They sold surplus properties at premiums to book value and kept spending on in-house systems. They also shifted the brand mix, closing weak outlets and adding Chinese makes such as BYD, Geely, Omoda, Jaecoo and Leapmotor.
On 1 April 2026 they launched 'Value Cars by Vertu', which sells 7-to-14-year-old used cars. They also changed sales staff pay to cut turnover. Technician pay changes start on 1 November 2026. Since 2018 the company has bought back 21.9% of its shares. A new £12m programme started in March 2026, with £10.2m left and purchases capped at 85p. Tangible net assets are 80.8p a share.
Constellation Retail Group raised its holding from about 10% to 19.15% between March and June 2026. COO David Crane and CFO Karen Anderson sold shares in May 2026 after exercising options. 13 May 2026 14 Oct 2026 5 Mar 2026 24 Jun 2026 14 May 2026
First half back above last year
In the six months to 31 August 2026 revenue reached a record £2.6bn and adjusted profit before tax was £23.8m, against £20.0m a year earlier. Part of that gain reflects last year's JLR disruption. Free cash flow was £17.5m. Net debt fell to £54.2m, well below the £74m to £77m the company had indicated in August. New retail volumes grew, helped by a UK market up 13.1% in the half, and electric-car sales more than doubled.
The market is also changing. Chinese brands took 24.5% of UK retail registrations in September and all of the market's growth that month. The company has 20 Chinese outlets. It says it has made three profit upgrades this year. Its interim dividend rises 11% to 1.0p. 14 Oct 2026 27 Aug 2026
Guidance and open questions
On 14 October 2026 Vertu said full-year profit to February 2027 should beat expectations. The analyst consensus was £26.5m, in a range of £25.5m to £27.1m. September trading was stronger than the company expected. Profit is front-loaded, though. Adjusted profit in H2 FY26 was only about £4.5m, so £26.5m implies a small second half.
Management is cautious on consumer demand, citing rising inflation and interest rates. It also cites Middle East instability, and the government's ZEV consultation, which closes on 23 October 2026. New Chinese outlets are at an early stage of building servicing income.
The expansion target is explicit, though the company has not given a profit figure for it. 14 Oct 2026 24 Jun 2026
“The Group will open a further 11 Chinese outlets in the next nine months to augment the existing 20 Chinese brand outlets” 14 Oct 2026
Written by AI from Vertu Motors's own announcements since Oct 2023 · every paragraph links to its sources