AutoWallis’ revenue grew by over 20 percent in the first half of the year, thanks to improved efficiency

Some of the measures to increase profitability and efficiency have already contributed to the improvement, and their further positive impact is expected in the future. The sales growth was primarily driven by the more than 40 percent increase in the Retail Business Unit’s revenue, mainly due to the international acquisitions carried out last year. The company, which represents 29 brands in 17 countries in the region, continues to seek new acquisition and business development opportunities in line with its growth strategy, in addition to exploiting synergy opportunities following the acquisitions.

The AutoWallis Group, listed in the Premium category of the Budapest Stock Exchange, has improved its operational efficiency: its sales revenue increased by 21 percent in the first half of the year to HUF 235.4 billion, and its EBITDA reached HUF 8.1 billion. This is only 10 percent lower than the figure a year ago, while the difference was still 31 percent at the end of the first quarter. All this shows that the previously announced efficiency-increasing and cost-cutting measures were effective already in the second quarter, while the positive effects of some of them will appear later.

Gábor Ormosy, CEO of AutoWallis, said that in the first half of the year, the car manufacturer campaigns, which fell short of last year’s outstanding level, had an unfavorable impact on the company’s results, while the previously closed acquisitions had a positive impact. Sales performance continues to show an upward trend, which, in addition to the normalization of margins, was moderated by the increase in operating costs generated by inflation and the impact of wage increases in the first six months. The CEO highlighted that as a result of efficiency improvement and other measures, AutoWallis achieved an EBITDA result that was nearly HUF 600 million higher in the second quarter compared to the same period last year.

Regarding car trade trends, he added that while new vehicle sales in the EU decreased by 1.9 percent*, AutoWallis’ relevant markets were on a growth path of 2-7 percent, typically with stabilizing inflation and slowly starting economic growth. The number of new and used vehicles sold by the Group increased by 3.4 percent to 26,314 units in the first six months of the year.

The Wholesale Business Unit achieved nearly 3 percent higher sales revenue (HUF 111.9 billion) compared to the same period last year, despite 3.7 percent fewer vehicle sales (partly due to one-off effects), due to the change in the composition of vehicles sold and interim price changes. AutoWallis’s continuously strengthening regional role is demonstrated by the fact that more than half of the Wholesale Business Unit’s sales now permanently come from abroad. The business unit’s profitability was also reduced by the weaker performance of the Opel brand in the first half of the year (partly due to the late start of production of two new models) and by one-off effects.

The Retail business unit’s revenue increased significantly (+43%), to HUF 119 billion, primarily due to previously closed acquisitions (the acquisition of the Czech MILAN KRÁL GROUP and NC Auto), while excluding acquisitions, the business unit’s revenue was approximately at the same level as the same period of the previous year (+4%), with slightly lower (-4%) vehicle sales. The latter decrease can be explained by the base effect caused by the outstanding manufacturer campaigns in the first quarter of the previous year – Suzuki, Toyota and Nissan.