Vertu Motors plc (VTU) Q4 2026 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning and welcome to the presentation of our latest preliminary results for the year-ended February 2026. My name is Robert Forrester, Chief Executive. I'm joined by Karen Anderson, our long-standing Chief Financial Officer. So the group, I think, has proven during the year that it can focus on controlling the control of elements of the business despite significant external challenges. And the aim is obviously to deliver long-term returns to shareholders. This is the 20th year we've been in business. We've got 5% of the UK car and van market, and the company has never lost money in a financial year. We have an excellent, resilient after-sales business, which continues to show growth. Management have been proactive in managing the business. Our strong ethos of risk management is clearly seen in the presence of the extended insurance cover, which largely protected the business from the third party cyber outage that we incurred with Jaguar Land Rover in the period. Our use of technology to drive productivity and very, very good customer journeys comes through. That's also aided 10 million pound of cost savings, which we've actioned in recent months to aid FY27 profits. We have a big focus on returns for shareholders And to date, we have, in the form of dividends and buybacks, returned £112 million in cash, reflecting the strong underlying cash flows of the group. We announced recently another £12 million buyback programme. We will make the right decisions for the long term, be it in pruning of operations that deliver poor returns, so recycling, capital in growing the Chinese brand presence to secure market share and future cash flows and to continue to invest in leadership training and future management. We've rolled out a very successful degree apprenticeship pr...