Online car sales site Auto Trader (LON:AUTO) reported a 10 percent rise in pre-tax profit on Thursday, boosted by rising car prices and increased interest in financing deals.
Revenues rose 7 percent in the year to the end of March, hitting £330.1 million. Net external debt fell to £338.7 million from £355 million over the previous period.
The strong performance was boosted largely by increased in used car prices, as well as interest from car retailers in using Auto Trader’s new Deal Finance Product.
‘We took big step in to improve car buying in the UK by launching the Dealer Finance product, allowing consumers to find their next car by monthly payment and retailers to advertise finance on their cars earlier in the buying journey,’ the company said.
“We expect average retailer forecourts to decline at a similar rate to last year” the company added.
Home Trader revenue declined 4 percent to £11.4 million from £12 million. However, the group said it would pay a final dividend of 4p per share, taking the total for the year to 5.9p per share from 5.2p in 2017.
