Family-owned car dealership business John Clark Motor Group raised its turnover to more than £1 billion last year, its latest accounts reveal.

The company, which has sites across north, east and central Scotland, increased its turnover to £1.0299 billion in 2023 from £914.3 million in the previous year.

It flagged “strong trading positives” in spite of “significant adverse used car market pricing changes” in the later part of 2023.

John Clark Motor Group sold 13,428 new vehicles last year, up from 11,308 in the prior 12 months.

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Used vehicle sales in 2023 totalled 18,412, up from 18,304 in 2022.

And after-sales revenue increased from £85.8m in 2022 to £94.9m last year.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose to £35.18m last year from £33.76m in 2022.

Operating profit before interest was £27.71m in 2023, down slightly from £27.91m in the prior year. Net profit before tax dipped from £25.31m in 2022 to £22.86m last year.

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John Clark Motor Group said: “These accounts show that we maintained positive momentum towards our key strategic objectives, as we crossed the £1 billion turnover threshold. Motor trade media specialist surveys saw us again ranked as one of the top 20 groups in the UK, with net profits which represented a UK motor trade upper-quarter return on sales.”

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Group managing director Chris Clark said: “I am clearly very happy to report further year-on-year gains continuing to build on our success of previous years.

"Our teams can once again celebrate playing their part in what has been another great year for the group, and we remain incredibly grateful for all the hard work and effort that each one of our colleagues puts into their roles. I know we have one of the best teams in the industry and I am very proud to be part of it.”

John Clark Motor Group declared it “saw the benefits of a continued focus on operational efficiencies and agility to counter and optimise performance in an ever-changing market”. 

It added: ““We again offered effective multi-channel communication to our customers and colleagues, which allowed us to listen, learn and act. The result being that, despite significant adverse used car market pricing changes in the latter months, 2023 as a whole saw strong trading positives and the continuation of a robust positive cash at bank position.”