CARSALES ENJOYING SURGE IN REVENUE
ONLINE classifieds business Carsales says tyre sales and vehicle inspections have been the main drivers of a spike in revenue over the past year.
The company has revealed revenue rose 8 per cent to $372 million in the year to June 30, while net profit was steady due to one-off costs related to investments in its international business.
Revenue from private clients – which includes used-car advertisements – rose 27 per cent, while turnover from dealers grew 8 per cent, CEO Cameron McIntyre said.
“The vast majority of that 27 per cent growth is coming from our high-growth adjacent businesses such as tyresales.com.au which is a pure-play tyre eCommerce business,” he said.
“We also have Redbook Inspect, which does vehicle inspections for a lot of banks, Uber, dealers, private sellers and buyers of cars – that business is growing rapidly.”
In January, the group lifted the threshold for free advertising, from cars worth less than $3000 to those under $5000, and increased costs for ads for cars worth more than $15,000.
Mr McIntyre, who replaced co-founder Greg Roebuck as chief executive in March, said Carsales lost some paid ad volume as a result but revenue benefited due to an increase in clients choosing premium ads.
Shares in Carsales initially dropped more than 2 per cent yesterday but recovered to close 2.95 per cent higher at $12.88.