ANALYST REACTION

Classified cars website Auto Trader saw profits accelerate last year, despite increased economic uncertainty and a dip in consumer confidence.

The firm said full-year operating profit revved up by 18 per cent to £203.1 million while pre-tax profit rose 23 per cent to £193.4m.

Auto Trader, which floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2015, said turnover was up from £281.6m to £311.4m. It also highlighted a proposed final dividend of 3.5p per share, totalling 5.2p per share for the year.

Chief executive Trevor Mather said: “With consumers spending more than double the time researching their next car online than they do offline, we have strived to create greater transparency, and therefore trust in our marketplace, benefiting consumers, retailers and manufacturers alike.”

Nevertheless, Auto Trader said it expects the strong new car market performance in recent years to “continue to have a positive impact on used car transactions”.

0 The business said monthly advert views increased to 247 million

“One worry for the group is the increasingly difficult conditions facing the industry. Clouds of doubt hang over the economy.”

HARGREAVES LANSDOWN The firm also said the result of the EU referendum has “increased the level of uncertainty around customer and consumer spending power”, although there are no shortterm indicators of a downturn.

George Salmon, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, looked at how buying a car has changed. “Rather than trawling through classified ads or traipsing around forecourts, our research is now done almost exclusively online, and usually on Auto Trader. The site is by far the UK’S favourite, attracting four times the traffic of its nearest rival.”

The business said monthly advert views increased by 2 per cent to 247 million.

Salmon continued: “Its popularity with the public means it becomes ever-more essential to the dealers. This gives Auto Trader the power to put through price increases yearon-year, while new, smarter data-driven products are coming through all the time.

“One worry for the group is the increasingly difficult conditions facing the industry.