Autotrader Group Plc (ATDRF) Q2 2024 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning everyone and welcome to Autotrader's results for the six months ending 30th of September 2023. As usual I'm joined by our COO Catherine and our CFO Jamie. Our performance in the first half demonstrates the strength of our business through different economic cycles, the strong partnership we have developed with our customers and a resilient used car market. Vehicle demand remains robust and supply will continue to be impacted by low new car sales over the past few years. We've also made good progress on our key strategic initiatives across our marketplace, platform and digital retailing, providing a long runway for future profitable growth. For this reason, we have confidence in both the second half of the financial year and the years to come, particularly as many of the structural changes in the automotive industry, be that electric vehicles, agency models or direct sales, all present opportunities to extend our brand technology data and buying experience to help new and existing customers and car buyers. Let's move now to our strategic overview. Our core auto trader business grew revenue 9%, operating profit 10% and achieved operating profit margins above 70%. Revenue growth was higher at a group level and group operating profit also grew 10%. Our core retailer revenue line continues to perform well Average revenue per retailer, or ARPA, grew 12%. And while headline retailer forecourts fell, when adjusted for the web zone disposal, they actually grew 1% to record levels. ARPA growth was underpinned by both our April 2023 pricing and product event and continued uptake of our prominence products. Audience levels have continued to grow and are now at record levels that are significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels. We're scaling up and optimising our d...