REG - Auto Trader Grp - Half Year Results
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RNS Number : 3870G Auto Trader Group plc 06 November 2025
Embargoed until 7.00am, 6 November 2025 AUTO TRADER GROUP PLC
HALF YEAR RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2025
Auto Trader Group plc ('the Group'), the UK's largest automotive platform,
announces half year results for the six months ended 30 September 2025
Strategic overview
- Group revenue increased 5%, Group operating profit increased 6% and
Basic EPS increased 11%. Core Autotrader revenue and operating profit
increased 5% and Autorama losses halved year-on-year.
- Retailer revenue grew at 6%, through a 1% increase in the number
of retailer forecourts and Average Revenue Per Retailer ('ARPR') growth of 5%.
Much of this ARPR growth came from our annual pricing and product event on 1
April 2025. As expected, this growth was lower than our long-term average due
to fast stock turn resulting in both prominence penetration and paid stock
being marginally lower year-on-year.
- As part of our annual pricing and product event we launched
Co-Driver, our generative AI product which helps retailers create high quality
vehicle listings in significantly less time, while also improving the
experience for car buyers.
- We see a rich future pipeline of AI opportunities to drive improved
performance, efficiency and time saving for our customers. These opportunities
build on our advertising, data and digital retailing products. Autotrader is a
trusted brand, offering a comprehensive car buying experience and proprietary
real-time vehicle level data. Most buyers continue to come directly to
Autotrader, but for the 18% that find us through organic search we believe AI
tools will become an alternative interface and we will increase our visibility
across these platforms.
- We are continuing to scale Deal Builder to become the core consumer
proposition on Autotrader, reflecting the change in approach that we outlined
at our full year results. Over the past six months, we have grown retailers by
c.2,000, ending the period with over 4,000 live with the product. This
represents an accelerated rate of customer acquisition which was four times
greater in H1 than the preceding six months.
Car market overview
- We continue to see strong levels of demand for used cars, with a
record number of cross platform visits spent on Autotrader and continued high
levels of engagement. The number of cars advertised on site during the first
half also increased, in part reflecting the stock offer we ran through the
early part of the financial year.
- Within the trade segment, there was a 2% increase in unique cars sold
during the first half, which compared with 1% underlying growth in the average
number of used cars live on site (when adjusting for the offer period
mentioned above), meaning a slight increase in the speed at which those cars
sold.
- The new car market grew 3% over the six-month period, with
continued strength in volumes through the fleet channel rather than through
retail. The implementation of a new Government electric vehicle grant,
combined with an increasing number of new entrant brands, is likely to support
further volume growth in the second half of the year.
Financial results
£m (unless otherwise specified) H1 2026 H1 2025 Change
Autotrader(1) 296.3 283.5 5%
Autorama 21.4 19.0 13%
Group revenue 317.7 302.5 5%
Autotrader(1) 208.0 197.5 5%
Autorama (1.4) (2.8) 50%
Group central costs(2) - relating to Autorama acquisition (6.5) (6.3) (3%)
Group operating profit 200.1 188.4 6%
Autotrader operating profit margin 70% 70% -
Group operating profit margin 63% 62% 1% pts
Basic earnings per share (pence) 17.26 15.56 11%
Cash generated from operations(3) 215.4 201.6 7%
- We have returned £162.2m to shareholders (H1 2025: £122.2m) through
£100.2m of share buybacks and dividends of £62.0m.
- Interim dividend declared of 3.8 pence per share (H1 2025: 3.5
pence per share).
Operational results
- Over 75% of all minutes spent on automotive marketplaces were
spent on Autotrader(4) (H1 2025: over 75%). Cross platform visits(5,6) were up
1% to 83.3 million per month (H1 2025: 82.6 million) and cross platform
minutes(5,6) were broadly consistent at 559 million per month (H1 2025: 560
million).
- The average number of retailer forecourts(5) in the period
increased 1% to 14,080 (H1 2025: 13,986).
- Average Revenue Per Retailer(5) ('ARPR') per month was up 5% (or
£142) to £2,994 on average (H1 2025: £2,852), driven by a positive
contribution from both the price and product levers.
- Live car stock(5,7) onsite was up 2% to 457,000 cars (H1 2025:
448,000) on average, with this increase being due to an offer which ran at the
beginning of the six-month period. We delivered 3,687 new lease vehicles which
was 16% higher than the previous year (H1 2025: 3,180).
- The average number of employees(8) ('FTEs') in the Group was
broadly flat at 1,249 during the period (H1 2025: 1,252).
Nathan Coe, Chief Executive Officer of Autotrader, said:
"In 2025, we continued our decade-long journey of creating AI-powered products
that improve the buying and selling experience on Autotrader and help drive
improved performance, efficiency and time-saving for our customers. This year,
over 10,000 of our customers have used our Co-Driver product to deliver over 1
million improved vehicle adverts, enhancing the buying journey."
"By combining this technology with our proprietary data, alongside scaling our
Deal Builder product, we're improving car buying and selling across the UK."
"As a result of this strategic progress, we remain confident in the outlook,
supported by our strong market position, customer value, and unique data and
technology."
2026 Outlook
We have delivered in line with our expectations for H1, and our full year
outlook remains unchanged.
Analyst presentation
A presentation for analysts will be held in person at the offices of Deutsche
Numis and via audio webcast and conference call at 9.30am, Thursday 6 November
2025. Details below:
Audio webcast:
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webcast, please contact Sodali & Co on the details below.
For media enquiries
Please contact the team at Sodali & Co on +44 (0)20 7250 1446 or email
autotrader@sodali.com (mailto:autotrader@sodali.com)
About Autotrader
Auto Trader Group plc is the UK's largest automotive platform. It listed on
the London Stock Exchange in March 2015 and is a member of the FTSE 100 Index.
Autotrader's purpose is Driving Change Together. Responsibly. Autotrader is
committed to improving car buying and selling in the UK, to building stronger
partnerships with customers, using its influence to drive more environmentally
friendly vehicle choices and enabling this through a culture that enables our
people to develop and perform. With the largest number of car buyers and the
largest choice of trusted stock, Autotrader's marketplace sits at the heart of
the UK car buying process. That marketplace is built on an industry-leading
technology and data platform, which is used by partners across the automotive
industry. Autotrader is evolving to create an improved buying experience where
buyers can do more online, whilst enabling all its retailer partners to
improve performance through more sophisticated data and technology solutions.
Autotrader publishes a monthly used car Retail Price Index which is based on
pricing analysis of circa 800,000 unique vehicles. This data is used by the
Bank of England to feed the broader UK economic indicators.
For more information, please visit https://plc.autotrader.co.uk/
(https://plc.autotrader.co.uk/)
Cautionary statement
Certain statements in this announcement constitute forward looking statements
(including beliefs or opinions). "Forward looking statements" are sometimes
identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms
"believes", "estimates", "aims", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "plans",
"predicts", "may", "will", "could", "shall", "risk", "targets", "forecasts",
"should", "guidance", "continues", "assumes" or "positioned" or, in each case,
their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. Any statement in
this announcement that is not a statement of historical fact including,
without limitation, those regarding the Company's future expectations,
operations, financial performance, financial condition and business is a
forward looking statement. Such forward looking statements are subject to
known and unknown risks and uncertainties, because they relate to events that
may or may not occur in the future, that may cause actual results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements.
These risks and uncertainties include, among other factors, changing economic,
financial, business or other market conditions. These and other factors could
adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events
described in this results announcement. As a result, you are cautioned not to
place reliance on such forward looking statements, which are not guarantees of
future performance and the actual results of operations, financial condition
and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which the Group
operates, may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward
looking statements set out in this announcement. Except as is required by
applicable laws and regulatory obligations, no undertaking is given to update
the forward looking statements contained in this announcement, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise. Nothing in this
announcement should be construed as a profit forecast. This announcement has
been prepared for the Company's group as a whole and, therefore, gives greater
emphasis to those matters which are significant to the Company and its
subsidiary undertakings when viewed as a whole.
To the extent available, the industry and market data contained in this
announcement has come from third party sources. Third party industry
publications, studies and surveys generally state that the data contained
therein have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but that
there is no guarantee of the accuracy or completeness of such data. In
addition, certain parts of the industry and market data contained in this
announcement come from the Company's own internal research and estimates based
on the knowledge and experience of the Company's management in the market in
which the Company operates. While the Company believes that such research and
estimates are reasonable and reliable, they, and their underlying methodology
and assumptions, have not been verified by any independent source for accuracy
or completeness and are subject to change without notice. Accordingly, undue
reliance should not be placed on any of the industry or market data contained
in this announcement.
Summary financial performance
Group results Units H1 2026 H1 2025 Change
Revenue £m 317.7 302.5 5%
Operating profit £m 200.1 188.4 6%
Operating profit margin % 63% 62% 1% pts
Profit before tax £m 199.3 187.5 6%
Basic earnings per share Pence 17.26 15.56 11%
Dividend per share Pence 3.8 3.5 9%
Group cash flow
Cash generated from operations(3) £m 215.4 201.6 7%
Net cash(9) £m 5.2 15.1 (9.9)
Autotrader results(1)
Trade £m 268.1 254.1 6%
Consumer Services £m 21.0 23.0 (9%)
Manufacturer & Agency £m 7.2 6.4 13%
Revenue £m 296.3 283.5 5%
People costs £m 48.9 46.6 5%
Marketing £m 8.9 11.2 (21%)
Other costs £m 22.9 21.7 6%
Depreciation & amortisation £m 4.2 3.2 31%
Digital Services Tax ('DST') £m 5.5 5.1 8%
Operating costs £m 90.4 87.8 3%
Share of profit from joint ventures £m 2.1 1.8 17%
Operating profit £m 208.0 197.5 5%
Operating profit (excl DST) £m 213.5 202.6 5%
Operating profit margin % 70% 70% -
Operating profit margin (excl DST) % 72% 71% 1% pts
Autorama results
Vehicle & Accessory Sales £m 16.5 13.6 21%
Commission & Ancillary £m 4.9 5.4 (9%)
Revenue £m 21.4 19.0 13%
Cost of goods sold £m 16.6 13.5 23%
People costs £m 3.5 3.9 (10%)
Marketing £m 0.9 1.9 (53%)
Other costs £m 1.4 1.7 (18%)
Depreciation & amortisation £m 0.4 0.8 (50%)
Operating costs £m 22.8 21.8 5%
Operating loss £m (1.4) (2.8) 50%
Group central costs - relating to Autorama acquisition(2)
Operating costs £m 6.5 6.3 3%
Operating loss £m (6.5) (6.3) (3%)
1. Autotrader includes the results of Autotrader and AutoConvert in
respect of online marketplace advertising of motor vehicles and other related
products and services in the digital automotive marketplace, including the
Dealer Auction joint venture.
2. Group central costs which are not allocated within either of the two
segmental operating profit/(loss) comprises a £6.5 million amortisation
expense (H1 2025: £6.3 million) relating to the fair value of intangible
assets acquired in the Group's business combination of Autorama.
3. Cash generated from operations is defined as net cash generated from
operating activities, before corporation tax paid.
4. Share of minutes is a custom metric based on Comscore minutes and is
calculated by dividing Autotrader's total minutes volume by the entire
custom-defined competitive set's total minutes volume. The custom-defined list
includes: Autotrader, Gumtree motors, Pistonheads, Motors.co.uk, eBay Motors,
Cazoo and CarGurus.
5. Average during the period.
6. As measured internally through Snowplow.
7. Physical car stock advertised on autotrader.co.uk.
8. Average during the period, including contractors.
9. Net cash represents cash less gross bank debt before amortised debt
costs, and does not include amounts relating to leases, non-bank loans or
vehicle stocking loans.
Summary of Group operating performance
Group revenue grew 5% to £317.7m (H1 2025: £302.5m). Revenue in the core
Autotrader business also grew 5% to £296.3m (H1 2025: £283.5m), underpinned
by retailer revenue growth largely through our April 2025 pricing and product
event. Autorama revenue was £21.4m (H1 2025: £19.0m), where we delivered 16%
more vehicles year-on-year, with significant growth in cars through the
Autotrader platform offset by a decline in vans and pickups.
Group operating profit increased by 6% to £200.1m (H1 2025: £188.4m),
reflecting the increase in revenue, a reduction in Autorama's losses and an
increase in the share of profit from joint ventures to £2.1m (H1 2025:
£1.8m). Group central costs increased slightly to £6.5m (H1 2025: £6.3m).
Group operating profit margin increased to 63% (H1 2025: 62%). Operating
profit in the core Autotrader business was £208.0m (H1 2025: £197.5m),
representing an operating profit margin of 70% (H1 2025: 70%).
Group profit before tax increased 6% to £199.3m (H1 2025: £187.5m) and basic
earnings per share increased 11% to 17.26p (H1 2025: 15.56p). Cash generated
from operations increased 7% to £215.4m (H1 2025: £201.6m).
We continue to be the most effective sales channel for both new and used cars
across the UK. The average number of retailer forecourts advertising on our
platform increased to 14,080 (H1 2025: 13,986). Total live car stock onsite
increased by 2% to an average of 457,000 cars (H1 2025: 448,000), although
much of this growth came from a stock offer at the start of the financial
year. There was an increase in the number of cross platform visits, with
minutes being broadly stable during the period. Over 75% of all minutes spent
on automotive marketplaces were spent on Autotrader (H1 2025: over 75%) and we
were more than 9x larger than our nearest competitor (H1 2025: 10x).
UK car market
Total new car registrations increased 3% to 998k during H1 (H1 2025: 969k). We
continue to see more cars being sold through the fleet channel rather than the
retail channel. We remain optimistic this will normalise over time given the
importance of the retail channel to drive electric vehicle adoption and the
large number of new car brands entering the UK with more affordable models.
The share of battery electric vehicles as a percentage of total new car sales
continued to increase to 23% (H1 2025: 19%), which should be further supported
by a new Government electric vehicle grant.
Demand in the used car retail market remained strong with an increasing volume
of visits to our platform and high levels of engagement. We have seen an
increase in the number of cars advertised on site during the first half,
although much of this increase was due to a stock offer we ran from March
through to the beginning of June. Excluding this offer, we saw a 1% increase
in average trade used cars live on site and a 2% increase in unique cars
advertised, showing a slight increase in the speed at which those cars sold.
Average used car pricing has also increased gradually over the past six
months.
Autotrader is not impacted by the recent announcement from the FCA on the
implementation of a proposed redress scheme in relation to certain commissions
earned on historic car finance agreements. We do not expect to make any
further product changes to either our Deal Builder or new car leasing journeys
as a result of this process.
Progress against our strategy
Our strategy has three focus areas: our marketplace; our platform; and digital
retailing. These areas are closely interconnected, as our platform and digital
retailing capabilities build on and contribute to the strength of our
marketplace. Over time we have embedded our data and technology services into
the systems and processes used by both our retailer partners and car buyers.
Marketplace
The Autotrader marketplace is the foundation of our business where we provide
UK car buyers with the best choice of vehicles and tools to navigate their
buying journey, including valuations, price flags, reviews and the best search
experience across all devices and channels.
The majority of revenue comes from retailer customers, reported within our
Trade segment, where customer numbers grew 1% to 14,080. Average Revenue Per
Retailer ('ARPR') grew at 5% or £142 to £2,994 per month. ARPR growth came
from both the price and product levers, with a small decline in stock. Our
annual pricing and product event delivered much of this growth, taking effect
from 1 April 2025. This was underpinned by our Co-Driver product, a set of
AI-enabled features designed to drive both retailer performance and
efficiencies in the advertising journey. The proportion of our stock where
retailers are paying for advertising packages above our Standard level
marginally declined to 33.6% (H1 2025: 33.8%), with strong levels of consumer
demand and faster speed of sale continuing to make upsell of these packages
slightly more challenging. We continue to review our package staircase and
have recently created an offer to incentivise customers onto higher levels,
which has seen good levels of uptake. This offer converts throughout the
second half, which will inform how we evolve these packages in H1 of next
financial year, with the aim of returning prominence to long-term growth.
Despite a subdued new car retail market, we have continued to make progress
with our new car products. We increased the volume of new car stock on the
platform by 10% to 22,000 (H1 2025: 20,000), from a consistent number of
Franchise retailers. Alongside this, we have further integrated leasing deals
into the Autotrader search experience. In the first half, total deliveries
increased 16% to 3,687 (H1 2025: 3,180). The volume of cars increased almost
three times to 2,260 and the volume influenced by Autotrader increased more
than six times. Whilst these multiples are off a low base, the results have
been encouraging, as offers through this channel have become more competitive.
This growth was offset by a decline in higher yielding vans and pickups. We
continue to work with manufacturers to enable them to promote their vehicles
to consumers, however we are still optimising a solution that fits with their
operating model. As the market transitions to electric vehicles ('EVs') we
continue to grow our relevance, with 24% of our new car stock being EVs (H1
2025: 19%) and 6% of used car stock (H1 2025: 4%).
Platform
Over the past decade, our data science team has harnessed Machine Learning and
Generative AI to power key functionality for our customers and car buyers.
These products include price flags, valuations and our search and advertising
algorithms. We see even greater opportunities to drive performance and
efficiencies for retailers and to enhance the Autotrader consumer experience.
This year we launched Co-Driver, a suite of transformational AI tools that
utilise our unparalleled vehicle data and consumer insights to significantly
improve the consumer and retailer experience. Our first iteration of Co-Driver
is available to all our retailer partners and includes three core features:
Smart Image Management, AI Generated Descriptions, and Vehicle Highlights. As
of September 2025, over 10,000 retailers have used Co-Driver to create over
one million high performing used car and van adverts, to optimise over 12
million vehicle images and we've seen over 85 million buyer interactions with
Vehicle Highlights on Autotrader.
Artificial intelligence is evolving quickly, and over time will likely reshape
how consumers discover and interact with brands. Traditional top of funnel
search, once dominated by static keywords and ranking, is shifting toward
conversational, intent-driven discovery powered by AI. Consumers are
increasingly expecting summarised answers incorporating the AI platform's
large language models ('LLM') and personalisation. We believe AI platforms
will increasingly become an alternative interface to existing search engines
for car buyers to discover our trusted brand and deep car buying experience.
Over time, we expect to increase our visibility and integration, although we
remain cautious over the nature and extent of the data we share. This
landscape will continue to evolve, but there are good reasons to believe the
Autotrader platform will remain the source to buy and sell vehicles in the UK:
- The majority of our audience comes to us directly with 49% of
traffic coming through our app, 29% straight to our URL or through searches
for "Autotrader", 18% organic search and the remaining 4% being paid web
traffic. This is due to our strong brand and the high value, complex nature of
the purchase which often takes place over several months, with available
vehicles changing every day. This complexity has driven us to invest over many
years in products, such as Deal Builder and AT Connect, which involves
UK-centric custom integrations with retailers, technology partners and finance
lenders. We do expect AI platforms to play a greater role in top of funnel
research; however this has always taken place off Autotrader and has not
impacted our position.
- The value of Autotrader is the proprietary data that enables us to
deliver a powerful and unique consumer and retailer experience. This data is
owned, stored and has been developed by us over many years; it is unique to
the UK vehicle market and difficult to replicate. This includes our vehicle
listings and the most comprehensive vehicle dataset of the 36 million used
cars on UK roads, powering how our customers describe, advertise and promote
their vehicles. It also underpins our retailers' operational decision making,
including pricing, what vehicles to stock, what to pay for those vehicles, and
how to improve the likelihood of selling the vehicle both on and off
Autotrader. For consumers, it includes price flags, spec-adjusted valuations,
vehicle provenance checks, available finance offers, distinguishing
characteristics of the specific vehicle, personalised search results and
alternative vehicles, all fundamental parts of our specialised consumer
experience.
Like many other technology and industry changes we have navigated in the past,
we recognise that these situations evolve over time. As always, we remain
forward-thinking, pragmatic and adaptable in continuing to build our product
and technical capabilities as this technology develops.
Digital retailing
We remain in a unique position to connect online journeys to offline retailer
forecourt visits. Today, these journeys typically start on Autotrader and are
then passed to retailers' systems and processes through our Retailer Portal
and API journeys. Our Deal Builder product makes that process easier, faster
and more effective for car buyers and retailers. As detailed in our FY25 full
year results, we have decided to make the product part of our core proposition
to retailers and the consumer experience for car buyers. This will enable us
to increase the speed of customer adoption, materially increase the number of
deals being submitted on Autotrader, accelerate the level of buyer adoption,
and thereby deepen the competitive moat for our core business. In the last six
months, we saw c.52,000 deals (H1 2025: c.23,000) and at the end of September
2025 there were c.4,000 retailers live with the product (September 2024:
c.1,500) and c.128k adverts with Deal Builder functionality (September 2024:
c.56k). The feedback on the product continues to be positive from both
retailers and car buyers, with deals converting twice as effectively as a
regular Autotrader lead and over half of all deals being submitted outside of
traditional working hours.
We are also launching a new product called Buying Signals which leverages our
unique consumer data to surface both high intent buyers and their preferences
to our customers. Across multiple enquiry types, we have used an AI-powered
model to apply a flag for the retailer indicating how likely the buyer is to
buy the vehicle, how local the buyer is and the type of vehicles they are
interested in. This will enable retailers to prioritise their next best action
with different car buyers. The goal of this product is to drive improved
conversion and to close the gap between the journey on Autotrader and the
consumer experience at the retailer, complementing Deal Builder. These buyer
propensity models will also inform our own marketing, remarketing and
optimisation activities for all our products.
Being a responsible business
We are focused on providing a great working environment for our people,
enabling them to do their best work for Autotrader. Our employee-driven
networks support women, ethnicity, LGBT+, wellbeing, early careers, disability
and neurodiversity, social mobility and family. They have continued their
impressive work and have supported many colleagues during the period. We have
recently entered into a new lease and are halfway through investing
significant capital into the building to create a modern and inspiring
workspace. This investment will provide our people with an exceptional
environment that supports collaboration, wellbeing and productivity.
At the end of September 2025, women represented 43% of our organisation (March
2025: 44%) and 44% (March 2025: 43%) of leadership roles as defined by the
FTSE Women Leaders Review. We are committed to increasing the percentage of
ethnically diverse employees, who currently represent 19% of our organisation
(March 2025: 19%), with 7% of employees not disclosing their ethnicity. The
percentage of ethnically diverse employees in leadership remained consistent
at 10% (March 2025: 10%). Following the AGM, our Board comprises five women
and four men, with two from an ethnically diverse background and a woman as
Senior Independent Director.
We are committed to being net zero by 2040 and halving our carbon emissions by
2030, targets which have been validated by the Science Based Targets
initiative ('SBTi'). Initial calculations estimate our GHG emissions during
the six-month period to September 2025 to be c.77k tonnes of CO(2) across
Scopes 1, 2 and 3 (FY 2025: 93.2k tonnes). The majority of our emissions are
Scope 3, predominantly attributable to our suppliers and emissions relating to
the small number of vehicles sold by Autorama that pass through their balance
sheet.
Board changes
On 31 October 2025, we announced that Catherine Faiers has informed the Board
of her intention to step down as Chief Operating Officer in order to take up
the CEO position at Moonpig Group PLC. The Company will implement a smooth and
orderly transition, with details of succession arrangements and the final
leaving date for Catherine to be shared in due course.
At our AGM on 18 September 2025, Non-Executive Directors, Jeni Mundy and Sigga
Sigurdardottir, did not stand for re-election having served their third
three-year term and second three-year term respectively. We thank Jeni and
Sigga for their important contributions to Autotrader during their time on the
Board.
On 1 July 2025, two Independent Non-Executive Directors, Megan Quinn and Adam
Jay, joined the Board. Megan and Adam also joined the Audit, Remuneration,
Corporate Responsibility and Nomination Committees. At the conclusion of the
AGM, Megan was appointed Corporate Responsibility Committee Chair.
Investor calendar
The Group's results for the full year ending 31 March 2026 will be announced
on 21 May 2026.
H1 2026 financial performance
Group results
H1 2026 H1 2025 Change
£m £m %
Revenue 317.7 302.5 5%
Operating costs (119.7) (115.9) (3%)
Share of profit from joint ventures 2.1 1.8 17%
Group operating profit 200.1 188.4 6%
Group operating profit margin 63% 62% 1% pts
Group revenue increased 5% to £317.7m (H1 2025: £302.5m) which was driven by
Autotrader revenue which also increased by 5% to £296.3m (H1 2025: £283.5m)
and Autorama revenue of £21.4m (H1 2025: £19.0m). Group operating profit
grew by 6% to £200.1m (H1 2025: £188.4m).
H1 2026 H1 2025 Change
£m £m %
Autotrader 208.0 197.5 5%
Autorama (1.4) (2.8) 50%
Group central costs - relating to Autorama acquisition (6.5) (6.3) (3%)
Group operating profit 200.1 188.4 6%
Group central costs comprise an amortisation charge of £6.5m (H1 2025:
£6.3m) relating to the Autorama intangible assets acquired.
Group profit before tax increased by 6% to £199.3m (H1 2025: £187.5m). Cash
generated from operations was £215.4m (H1 2025: £201.6m).
Autotrader results
Revenue increased to £296.3m (H1 2025: £283.5m), up 5% when compared to the
prior period. Trade revenue, which comprises revenue from Retailers, Home
Traders and other smaller revenue streams, increased by 6% to £268.1m (H1
2025: £254.1m).
H1 2026 H1 2025 Change
£m
£m
%
Retailer 252.9 239.3 6%
Home Trader 8.6 8.3 4%
Other 6.6 6.5 2%
Trade 268.1 254.1 6%
Consumer Services 21.0 23.0 (9%)
Manufacturer & Agency 7.2 6.4 13%
Autotrader revenue 296.3 283.5 5%
Retailer revenue increased by 6% to £252.9m (H1 2025: £239.3m). The average
number of retailer forecourts advertising on our platform increased 1% to
14,080 (H1 2025: 13,986). Average Revenue Per Retailer ('ARPR') per month
increased by 5% or £142 to £2,994 (H1 2025: £2,852). ARPR growth was driven
by the product and price levers, with the stock lever declining slightly as
expected. The breakdown was as follows:
· Price: Our price lever contributed growth of £89 (H1 2025: £79)
to total ARPR as we delivered our annual pricing event for all customers on 1
April 2025, which included additional products alongside a like-for-like price
increase.
· Stock: Our stock lever decreased £11 (H1 2025: increase of £10).
Whilst the number of live cars advertised on Autotrader increased 2% to
457,000 (H1 2025: 448,000), much of this increase came from a stock offer
which took effect at the beginning of this financial year. Excluding the
offer, and private adverts which do not impact ARPR, live cars increased just
under 1%. The stock lever was marginally lower due to a slight reduction in
under-utilised slots created by the offer.
· Product: Our product lever contributed growth of £64 (H1 2025:
£80) to total ARPR. This growth was largely attributable to Co-Driver, which
was included in retailer packages from April 2025.
Home Trader revenue increased by 4% to £8.6m (H1 2025: £8.3m). Other
revenue increased by 2% to £6.6m (H1 2025: £6.5m).
Consumer Services revenue decreased by 9% in the period to £21.0m (H1 2025:
£23.0m). Private revenue, which is largely generated from individual sellers
who pay to advertise their vehicle on the Autotrader platform, decreased by
13% to £13.2m (H1 2025: £15.2m). Motoring Services revenue was flat at
£7.8m (H1 2025: £7.8m).
Revenue from Manufacturer and Agency customers increased 13% to £7.2m (H1
2025: £6.4m), due to certain brands supporting their Franchise network on
both new and used car advertising.
Total costs increased 3% to £90.4m (H1 2025: £87.8m).
H1 2026 H1 2025 Change
£m £m %
People costs 48.9 46.6 5%
Marketing 8.9 11.2 (21%)
Other costs 22.9 21.7 6%
Depreciation & amortisation 4.2 3.2 31%
Digital Services Tax ('DST') 5.5 5.1 8%
Autotrader costs 90.4 87.8 3%
People costs increased by 5% to £48.9m (H1 2025: £46.6m). The increase in
people costs was due to higher average salaries and a small increase in the
average number of full-time equivalent employees ('FTEs') to 1,137 (H1 2025:
1,121). Within people costs, share-based payments were £6.9m (H1 2025:
£6.8m).
Marketing spend decreased by 21% to £8.9m (H1 2025: £11.2m) due to the
timing of campaigns during the period versus the prior period. Other costs,
which include data services, property related costs and other overheads,
increased 6% to £22.9m (H1 2025: £21.7m). The increase was primarily due to
property costs for our new head office and IT related costs. Depreciation and
amortisation increased by 31% to £4.2m (H1 2025: £3.2m), also related to our
new head office.
A cost of £5.5m (H1 2025: £5.1m) has been recognised in relation to the UK's
Digital Services Tax.
H1 2026 H1 2025 Change
£m £m %
Revenue 296.3 283.5 5%
Operating costs (90.4) (87.8) (3%)
Share of profit from joint ventures 2.1 1.8 17%
Autotrader operating profit 208.0 197.5 5%
Autotrader operating profit margin 70% 70% -
Our share of profit generated by Dealer Auction, the Group's joint venture,
increased 17% to £2.1m (H1 2025: £1.8m) in the period due to increased
transaction volumes.
Autorama results
H1 2026 H1 2025 Change
£m £m %
Vehicle & Accessory Sales 16.5 13.6 21%
Commission & Ancillary 4.9 5.4 (9%)
Autorama revenue 21.4 19.0 13%
Autorama revenue was £21.4m (H1 2025: £19.0m), with vehicle and accessory
sales contributing £16.5m (H1 2025: £13.6m), and commission and ancillary
revenue contributing £4.9m (H1 2025: £5.4m).
Total deliveries amounted to 3,687 units (H1 2025: 3,180), which comprised
2,260 cars (H1 2025: 841), 1,299 vans (H1 2025: 2,018) and 128 pickups (H1
2025: 321). Deliveries from Autotrader, which were predominantly cars,
increased six times to 1,519 (H1 2025: 244). Average commission and ancillary
revenue per unit decreased to £1,329 (H1 2025: £1,698) reflecting the
changing vehicle mix during the period.
H1 2026 H1 2025 Change
£m £m %
Cost of goods sold 16.6 13.5 23%
People costs 3.5 3.9 (10%)
Marketing 0.9 1.9 (53%)
Other costs 1.4 1.7 (18%)
Depreciation and amortisation 0.4 0.8 (50%)
Autorama costs 22.8 21.8 5%
The Autorama business delivered c.750 (H1 2025: c.430) vehicles which were
temporarily taken on balance sheet in the period. This represented 21% (H1
2025: 14%) of total vehicles delivered in the period. The cost of these
vehicles was taken through cost of goods sold, with the corresponding revenue
in vehicle and accessory sales.
People costs of £3.5m (H1 2025: £3.9m) related to the 112 FTEs (H1 2025:
130) employed on average through the period. Marketing was £0.9m (H1 2025:
£1.9m). Other costs of £1.4m (H1 2025: £1.7m) include IT services, property
costs, people-related costs and other overheads. Depreciation and amortisation
totalled £0.4m (H1 2025: £0.8m).
H1 2026 H1 2025 Change
£m £m %
Revenue 21.4 19.0 13%
Costs (22.8) (21.8) (5%)
Operating loss (1.4) (2.8) 50%
Group net finance costs
Group net finance costs decreased to £0.8m (H1 2025: £0.9m). Interest costs
on the Group's Syndicated Revolving Credit Facility ('Syndicated RCF')
totalled £0.5m (H1 2025: £0.7m). At 31 September 2025, the Group had drawn
£15.0m of its available facility (30 September 2025: £nil). Other finance
costs comprised amortisation of debt issue costs of £0.2m (H1 2025: £0.3m),
vehicle stocking loan interest of £0.2m (H1 2025: £0.2m) and interest costs
relating to leases of £0.7m (H1 2025: £nil). This was offset by interest
receivable on cash and cash equivalents of £0.8m (H1 2025: £0.3m).
Taxation
Profit before taxation increased by 6% to £199.3m (H1 2025: £187.5m). The
Group tax charge of £48.4m (H1 2025: £47.9) represents an effective tax rate
of 24.3% (H1 2025: 25.5%). This is marginally lower than the average standard
UK rate of 25% (H1 2025: 25%) due to accelerated tax depreciation.
The Group continues to exceed the threshold for in-scope revenue for UK
Digital Services Tax ('DST'). This has resulted in an operating expense of
£5.5m (H1 2025: £5.1m) in the period.
Earnings per share
Basic earnings per share increased by 11% to 17.26 pence (H1 2025: 15.56
pence) based on a weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue of
874,161,201 (H1 2025: 896,891,990). Diluted earnings per share of 17.21 pence
(H1 2025: 15.52 pence) also increased by 11%, based on 876,877,889 shares (H1
2025: 899,449,244) which takes into account the dilutive impact of outstanding
share awards.
Cash flow and net bank debt
Cash generated from operations increased to £215.4m (H1 2025: £201.6m) as a
result of the increase in operating profit. Corporation tax payments decreased
to £49.7m (H1 2025: £50.2m). Net cash generated from operating activities
was £165.7m (H1 2025: £151.4m).
As at 30 September 2025, the Group had net cash of £5.2m (30 September 2024:
net cash of £15.1m). At the period end, the Group had drawn £15.0m of its
Syndicated RCF (30 September 2024: £nil) and held cash and cash equivalents
of £20.2m (30 September 2024: £15.1m).
Capital structure and dividends
The final dividend for the year ended 31 March 2025 of 7.1 pence per share (31
March 2024: 6.4 pence per share) was paid on 26 September 2025, totalling
£62.0m (September 2024: £57.3m). During the period, a total of 12.6 million
shares (H1 2025: 8.5 million) were purchased for a consideration of £100.2m
(H1 2025: £64.9m) before transaction costs of £0.5m (H1 2025: £0.3m). The
average price per share was 796.1p (H1 2025: 764.5p).
For H1 2026, the Board has declared an interim dividend of 3.8 pence per
share. The interim dividend will be paid on 26 January 2026 to members on the
register on 5 January 2026.
The Group's long-term capital allocation policy remains unchanged: continuing
to invest in the business enabling it to grow while returning around one third
of net income to shareholders in the form of dividends. Following these
activities any surplus cash will be used to continue our share buyback
programme and steadily reduce gross indebtedness.
Going concern
The Group generated significant cash from operations during the period. At 30
September 2025, the Group had £15.0m drawn of its £200.0m unsecured
Syndicated RCF and had cash balances of £20.2m. The Group has a strong
balance sheet and flexibility in terms of uses of cash to manage increased
economic uncertainty and higher interest rates. The £200.0m Syndicated RCF is
committed until February 2029, reducing to £165.0m for the final year to
February 2030. Based on the facilities available and current financial
projections for the next 12 months the Directors have concluded that it is
appropriate to prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis.
Principal risk and uncertainties
The Board has undertaken a review of the principal risks and uncertainties
that Autotrader faces as it works towards achieving its strategic objectives.
The Board has also considered the Group's risk appetite and the key
mitigations which are applied against each of the Group's principal risks.
The Board's review of our risks and uncertainties has included an evaluation
of the new and emerging areas of risk. The most notable emerging areas of risk
identified by the Board are:
· There is now more clarity around historic discretionary and
undisclosed commissions in automotive finance. The FCA are consulting on a
proposed redress scheme. Autotrader will not be directly affected, and we
believe that widespread disruption to the automotive finance market is
unlikely.
· Artificial intelligence ('AI') technology continues to evolve at
rapid pace. We are primarily focused on ensuring we navigate this change from
a consumer perspective and making this technology available to improve our
customers' businesses. However, we also consider legal, regulatory and ethical
considerations.
The Board are satisfied that in all cases the new and emerging risks which we
have identified fall within the scope of the disclosures captured within the
principal risks and uncertainties section of the 2025 Annual Report and
Accounts. Those disclosures remain valid and therefore this document should
be read in conjunction with pages 65 to 70 of the 2025 Annual Report and
Accounts.
Responsibility statement of the directors in respect of the half-yearly
financial report
We confirm that to the best of our knowledge:
· the condensed set of financial statements has been prepared in
accordance with IAS 34 Interim Financial Reporting as adopted for use in the
UK;
· the interim management report includes a fair review of the
information required by:
(a) DTR 4.2.7R
(https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Falex.kpmg.com%2FAROWeb%2Fdocument%2Flfc%2Ffind%2FUK_XLNUK_FSA_DR_DTR_BODY_para4_2_7R&data=05%7C01%7CDylan.Hull%40autotrader.co.uk%7C433347eddc9e479a7b9308daaac6b0a4%7C926f3743f3d24b8a816818cfcbe776fe%7C0%7C0%7C638010067645338957%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=tRbzSUuB37dF0q17DK6%2FV0rZ%2FiJXqQHrx85pcJ3p%2B%2BY%3D&reserved=0)
of the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules, being an indication of
important events that have occurred during the first six months of the
financial year and their impact on the condensed set of financial statements;
and a description of the principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining
six months of the year; and
(b) DTR 4.2.8R
(https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Falex.kpmg.com%2FAROWeb%2Fdocument%2Flfc%2Ffind%2FUK_XLNUK_FSA_DR_DTR_BODY_para4_2_8R&data=05%7C01%7CDylan.Hull%40autotrader.co.uk%7C433347eddc9e479a7b9308daaac6b0a4%7C926f3743f3d24b8a816818cfcbe776fe%7C0%7C0%7C638010067645338957%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=fmqRAz89I5sLC4zxBN6ykizDiWpTHuiDwvQxorT9XpE%3D&reserved=0)
of the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules, being related party
transactions that have taken place in the first six months of the current
financial year and that have materially affected the financial position or
performance of the entity during that period; and any changes in the related
party transactions described in the last annual report that could do so.
Nathan Coe Jamie Warner
Chief Executive Officer Chief Financial Officer
6 November 2025 6 November 2025
Consolidated INTERIM income statement
For the six months ended 30 september 2025
Year to
March
6 months to September 6 months to September 2025
2025 2024 £m
£m £m
Note
Revenue 3 317.7 302.5 601.1
Operating costs (119.7) (115.9) (227.9)
Share of profit from joint ventures, net of tax 2.1 1.8 3.6
Operating profit 200.1 188.4 376.8
Net finance costs 4 (0.8) (0.9) (1.1)
Profit before taxation 199.3 187.5 375.7
Taxation 5 (48.4) (47.9) (93.1)
Profit for the period attributable to equity holders of the 150.9 139.6 282.6
parent
Earnings per share:
Basic EPS (pence) 6 17.26 15.56 31.66
Diluted EPS (pence) 6 17.21 15.52 31.56
The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.
Consolidated INTERIM statement of comprehensive income
For the six months ended 30 september 2025
Year to
March
6 months to September 6 months to September 2025
2025 2024 £m
£m £m
Profit for the period 150.9 139.6 282.6
Other comprehensive income
Items that will not be reclassified to profit or loss:
Remeasurements of post-employment benefit obligations, net of tax (0.1) (0.3) (0.5)
Other comprehensive income for the period, net of tax (0.1) (0.3) (0.5)
Total comprehensive income for the period attributable to 150.8 139.3 282.1
equity holders of the parent
The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.
Consolidated INTERIM balance sheet
At 30 september 2025
September March
September 2024 2025
2025
Note £m £m £m
Assets
Non-current assets
Intangible assets 7 464.6 480.0 472.2
Property, plant and equipment 8,9 61.9 13.3 13.4
Deferred taxation assets 2.8 0.1 1.1
Retirement benefit surplus 13 0.1 0.3 0.2
Net investments in joint ventures 49.5 50.0 47.4
Other investments 1.3 1.3 1.3
580.2 545.0 535.6
Current assets
Inventory 3.3 3.3 2.0
Trade and other receivables 10 88.4 85.7 84.7
Current income tax assets 1.8 0.8 2.0
Cash and cash equivalents 20.2 15.1 15.3
Assets held for sale 11 3.9 - -
117.6 104.9 104.0
Total assets 697.8 649.9 639.6
Equity and liabilities
Equity attributable to equity holders of the parent
Share capital 17 8.8 9.0 8.9
Share premium 182.6 182.6 182.6
Retained earnings 1,438.4 1,437.2 1,437.9
Own shares held 18 (37.5) (24.8) (31.6)
Capital reorganisation reserve (1,060.8) (1,060.8) (1,060.8)
Capital redemption reserve 1.8 1.6 1.7
Other reserves 30.7 30.7 30.7
Total equity 564.0 575.5 569.4
Liabilities
Non-current liabilities
Borrowings 15 13.1 - -
Provisions 5.2 1.6 1.6
Lease liabilities 9 41.1 1.6 0.4
Deferred income 8.1 7.5 7.2
67.5 10.7 9.2
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables 12 64.2 60.7 57.9
Provisions 1.0 0.8 1.0
Lease liabilities 9 1.1 2.2 2.1
66.3 63.7 61.0
Total liabilities 133.8 74.4 70.2
Total equity and liabilities 697.8 649.9 639.6
The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.
Consolidated INTERIM statement of changes in equity
For the six months ended 30 september 2025
Share Share Retained Own shares Capital Capital redemption reserve Other Total
capital premium earnings held reorg reserves Equity
reserve
£m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
Balance at March 2024 9.2 182.6 1,420.5 (31.3) (1,060.8) 1.4 30.7 552.3
Profit for the period - - 139.6 - - - - 139.6
Other comprehensive income:
Remeasurements of post-employment - - (0.3) - - - - (0.3)
benefit obligations
Total comprehensive income, net of tax - - 139.3 - - - - 139.3
Transactions with owners:
Employee share schemes, value of employee services - - 5.5 - - - - 5.5
Tax impact of employee share schemes - - 0.7 - - - - 0.7
Purchase of own shares for cancellation (0.2) - (65.2) - - 0.2 - (65.2)
Exercise of share-based incentives - - (6.3) 6.5 - - - 0.2
Dividends paid - - (57.3) - - - - (57.3)
Total transactions with owners, recognised directly in equity (0.2) - (122.6) 6.5 - 0.2 - (116.1)
Balance at September 2024 9.0 182.6 1,437.2 (24.8) (1,060.8) 1.6 30.7 575.5
Profit for the period - - 143.0 - - - - 143.0
Other comprehensive income:
Remeasurements of post-employment - - (0.2) - - - - (0.2)
benefit obligations
Total comprehensive income, net of tax - - 142.8 - - - - 142.8
Transactions with owners:
Employee share schemes, value of employee services - - 4.2 - - - - 4.2
Tax impact of employee share schemes - - 0.1 - - - - 0.1
Purchase of own shares for treasury - - - (10.8) - - - (10.8)
Purchase of own shares for cancellation (0.1) - (112.2) - - 0.1 - (112.2)
Exercise of share-based incentives - - (3.1) 4.0 - - - 0.9
Dividends paid - - (31.1) - - - - (31.1)
Total transactions with owners, recognised directly in equity (0.1) - (142.1) (6.8) - 0.1 - (148.9)
Balance at March 2025 8.9 182.6 1,437.9 (31.6) (1,060.8) 1.7 30.7 569.4
Profit for the period - - 150.9 - - - - 150.9
Other comprehensive income:
Remeasurements of post-employment - - (0.1) - - - - (0.1)
benefit obligations
Total comprehensive income, net of tax - - 150.8 - - - - 150.8
Transactions with owners:
Employee share schemes, value of employee services - - 6.0 - - - - 6.0
Tax impact of employee share schemes - - 0.2 - - - - 0.2
Purchase of own shares for treasury - - - (10.6) - - - (10.6)
Purchase of own shares for cancellation (0.1) - (90.1) - - 0.1 - (90.1)
Exercise of share-based incentives - - (4.4) 4.7 - - - 0.3
Dividends paid - - (62.0) - - - - (62.0)
Total transactions with owners, recognised directly in equity (0.1) - (150.3) (5.9) - 0.1 - (156.2)
Balance at September 2025 8.8 182.6 1,438.4 (37.5) (1,060.8) 1.8 30.7 564.0
The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.
Consolidated statement of cash flows
For the six months ended 30 september 2025
Year to
March
6 months to September 6 months to September 2025
2025 2024
Note £m £m £m
Cash flows from operating activities
Cash generated from operations 16 215.4 201.6 399.7
Income taxes paid (49.7) (50.2) (95.1)
Net cash generated from operating activities 165.7 151.4 304.6
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchases of property, plant and equipment (12.0) (1.0) (4.0)
Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment - - 0.3
Dividends received from joint ventures - - 4.4
Interest received on cash and cash equivalents 0.8 0.3 0.9
Net cash used in investing activities (11.2) (0.7) 1.6
Cash flows from financing activities
Dividends paid to Company's shareholders 14 (62.0) (57.3) (88.4)
Drawdown of Syndicated revolving credit facility 15 15.0 - -
Repayment of Syndicated revolving credit facility 15 - (30.0) (30.0)
Payment of refinancing fees - - (0.3)
Payment of interest on borrowings (0.6) (0.8) (1.2)
Payment of lease liabilities (1.1) (1.1) (2.5)
Purchase of own shares for cancellation 18 (89.6) (64.9) (176.6)
Purchase of own shares for treasury 18 (10.6) - (10.7)
Payment of fees on purchase of own shares 18 (0.5) (0.3) (0.9)
Contributions to defined benefit pension scheme 13 (0.4) (0.1) (0.1)
Proceeds from exercise of share-based incentives 0.2 0.2 1.1
Net cash used in financing activities (149.6) (154.3) (309.6)
Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 4.9 (3.6) (3.4)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 15.3 18.7 18.7
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period 20.2 15.1 15.3
The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
1. General information
Auto Trader Group plc ('the Company') is a company incorporated in the United
Kingdom and its registered office is 4th Floor, 1 Tony Wilson Place,
Manchester, M15 4FN.
These condensed Consolidated interim financial statements have been prepared
as at, and for the six months ended, 30 September 2025. The comparative
financial information presented has been prepared as at, and for the six
months ended, 30 September 2024.
The condensed Consolidated interim financial information presented as at, and
for the six months ended, 30 September 2025 comprise the Company and its
subsidiaries (together referred to as the Group). The Consolidated financial
statements of the Group as at, and for the year ended, 31 March 2025 are
available on request from the Company's registered office and via the
Company's website.
These condensed Consolidated interim financial statements are unaudited but
have been reviewed by the Auditor whose report is set out on pages 33-34. They
have been prepared in accordance with the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of
the Financial Conduct Authority and with IAS 34, "Interim Financial Reporting"
as adopted for use in the UK. They do not include all of the information
required for full annual financial statements and should be read in
conjunction with the Consolidated financial statements of the Group as at and
for the year ended 31 March 2025 which were prepared in accordance with
UK-adopted international accounting standards, in conformity with the
requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and applicable law.
As required by the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules of the Financial
Conduct Authority, the condensed set of financial statements has been prepared
applying the accounting policies and presentation that were applied in the
preparation of the company's published Consolidated financial statements for
the year ended 31 March 2025.
The comparative financial information for the year ended 31 March 2025
included in this interim statement of results does not constitute statutory
accounts within the meaning of Section 434 of the Companies Act 2006 (the
'Act'). The statutory accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 have been
reported on by the Company's Auditor and were delivered to the Registrar of
Companies following the Company's Annual General Meeting. The auditor's report
was (i) unqualified, (ii) did not include a reference to any matters to which
the auditor drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying their report
and (iii) did not contain a statement under section 498 (2) or (3) of the
Companies Act 2006.
Judgements and estimates
The preparation of the condensed Consolidated interim financial statements
requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect
the application of policies and reported amounts of assets and liabilities,
income and expenses. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on
historical experience and various other factors that are believed to be
reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis of
making judgements about carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not
readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these
estimates.
In preparing these condensed Consolidated interim financial statements, the
significant judgements made by management in applying the Group's accounting
policies and the key sources of estimation uncertainty were the same as those
that applied to the Consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31
March 2025.
Going concern
During the period ended 30 September 2025, the Group has continued to generate
significant cash from operations. The Group has an overall positive net asset
position and had cash balances of £20.2m at 30 September 2025 (30 September
2024: £15.1m).
The Group has access to a Syndicated revolving credit facility (the
'Syndicated RCF'). At 30 September 2025, the Group had £15.0m (30 September
2024: £nil) drawn of its £200.0m Syndicated RCF. The £200.0m facility is
available until February 2029, reducing to £165.0m for the final year to
February 2030.
The combination of significant free cash flow and the discretionary nature of
dividend payments and share buybacks provide the Group with significant
liquidity and ability to comply with the Syndicated RCF's financial covenants.
Based on facilities available and current financial projections for the next
twelve months, the Directors have concluded that it is appropriate to prepare
the condensed interim financial statements on a going concern basis.
Changes in accounting policies
There are no material changes in accounting policies applied in these interim
financial statements to those accounting policies applied in the Group's
Consolidated financial statements as at and for the year ended 31 March 2025.
Taxes on income in the interim periods are accrued using the effective tax
rate that would be applicable to expected total annual profit or loss.
2. Segmental information
IFRS 8 'Operating segments' requires the Group to determine its operating
segments based on information which is provided internally. Based on the
internal reporting information and management structures within the Group, it
has been determined that there are two operating segments (September 2024: two
operating segments). The Group's reportable operating segments have therefore
been identified as follows:
· Autotrader - includes the results of Autotrader and AutoConvert in
respect of online marketplace advertising of motor vehicles and other related
products and services in the digital automotive marketplace including profit
from the Dealer Auction joint venture.
· Autorama - the results of Autorama in respect of a marketplace for
leasing new vehicles and other related products and services.
Management has determined that there are two operating segments in line with
the way the Group is managed. The reports reviewed by the Autotrader
Leadership Team ('ALT'), which is the chief operating decision-maker ('CODM')
for both segments, splits out operating performance by segment. The ALT is
made up of the Executive Directors and Key Management and is responsible for
the strategic decision-making of the Group. Revenue and cost streams for each
operating segment are largely independent in the reporting period.
The ALT primarily uses the measures of revenue and operating profit to assess
the performance of each operating segment. The revenue from external parties
reported to the ALT is measured in a manner consistent with that in the income
statement. Inter-segment revenue and costs are not reported to the ALT. In the
period to 30 September 2025, inter-segment revenue earned by Autotrader from
Autorama for vehicles leased via a journey initiated on the Autotrader
platform was £0.3m (September 2024: £0.0m).
Analysis of the Groups' revenue and results for both reportable segments, with
a reconciliation to Group profit before tax is shown below:
6 months to September 2025 Autotrader segment Autorama segment Group Group
central costs
£m £m
£m
£m
Total segment revenue 296.3 21.4 - 317.7
People costs (48.9) (3.5) - (52.4)
Marketing (8.9) (0.9) - (9.8)
Costs of goods sold - (16.6) - (16.6)
Digital Services Tax (5.5) - - (5.5)
Other costs (22.9) (1.4) - (24.3)
Depreciation & amortisation (4.2) (0.4) (6.5) (11.1)
Total segment costs (90.4) (22.8) (6.5) (119.7)
Share of profit from joint ventures 2.1 - - 2.1
Total segment operating profit/(loss) 208.0 (1.4) (6.5) 200.1
Finance costs - net (0.8)
Profit before tax 199.3
Group central costs which are not allocated within either of the segment
operating profit/(loss) reported to the CODM comprise £6.5m (September 2024:
£6.3m; March 2025: £12.9m) of amortisation expense relating to the fair
value of intangible brand and technology assets acquired in the Group's
business combination of Autorama.
6 months to September 2024 Autotrader Autorama Group Group
central costs
segment segment
£m
£m
£m £m
Total segment revenue 283.5 19.0 - 302.5
People costs (46.6) (3.9) - (50.5)
Marketing (11.2) (1.9) - (13.1)
Costs of goods sold - (13.5) - (13.5)
Digital Services Tax (5.1) - - (5.1)
Other costs (21.7) (1.7) - (23.4)
Depreciation & amortisation (3.2) (0.8) (6.3) (10.3)
Total segment costs (87.8) (21.8) (6.3) (115.9)
Share of profit from joint ventures 1.8 - - 1.8
Total segment operating profit/(loss) 197.5 (2.8) (6.3) 188.4
Finance costs - net (0.9)
Profit before tax 187.5
Year to March 2025 Autotrader segment Autorama segment Group Group
central costs
£m £m
£m
£m
Total segment revenue 564.8 36.3 - 601.1
People costs (92.8) (7.4) - (100.2)
Marketing (24.6) (2.7) - (27.3)
Costs of goods sold - (26.2) - (26.2)
Digital Services Tax (10.2) - - (10.2)
Other costs (40.5) (2.8) - (43.3)
Depreciation & amortisation (6.3) (1.5) (12.9) (20.7)
Total segment costs (174.4) (40.6) (12.9) (227.9)
Share of profit from joint ventures 3.6 - - 3.6
Total segment operating profit/(loss) 394.0 (4.3) (12.9) 376.8
Finance costs - net (1.1)
Profit before tax 375.7
3. Revenue
The Group's revenue is derived from contracts with customers. All revenues
were earned from activities and customers in the United Kingdom.
In the following table, the Group's revenue is detailed by customer type. This
level of detail is consistent with that used by management to assist in the
analysis of the Group's revenue-generating trends.
September September March
2025 2024 2025
£m £m £m
Retailer 252.9 239.3 480.0
Home Trader 8.6 8.3 16.1
Other 6.6 6.5 13.0
Trade 268.1 254.1 509.1
Consumer Services 21.0 23.0 42.4
Manufacturer and Agency 7.2 6.4 13.3
Autorama 21.4 19.0 36.3
Total revenue 317.7 302.5 601.1
4. Net finance costs
September September March
2025 2024 2025
£m £m £m
On bank loans and overdrafts 0.5 0.7 1.1
Amortisation of debt issue costs 0.2 0.3 0.5
Interest unwind on lease liabilities 0.7 - 0.1
Interest on vehicle stocking loan 0.2 0.2 0.3
Interest receivable on cash and cash equivalents (0.8) (0.3) (0.9)
Total net finance costs 0.8 0.9 1.1
5. Income taxes
September September March
2025 2024 2025
£m £m £m
Total income tax expense 48.4 47.9 93.1
The taxation charge recognised is based on management's best estimate of the
effective tax rate for the full year of 24.3% (September 2024: 25.5%) applied
to the profit before taxation of the interim period. The taxation charge for
the period is lower than (2024: higher than) the standard rate of UK
corporation tax of 25% (September 2024: 25%) due to accelerated tax
depreciation.
6. Earnings per share
Basic earnings per share is calculated using the weighted average number of
ordinary shares in issue during the period, excluding those held in treasury
and by the Employee Share Option Trust ('ESOT'), based on the profit for the
period attributable to shareholders.
Weighted average number Total Pence
of ordinary shares earnings per share
£m
Six months ended September 2025
Basic EPS 874,161,201 150.9 17.26
Diluted EPS 876,877,889 150.9 17.21
Six months ended September 2024
Basic EPS 896,681,990 139.6 15.56
Diluted EPS 899,449,244 139.6 15.52
Year ended March 2025
Basic EPS 892,418,234 282.6 31.66
Diluted EPS 895,392,458 282.6 31.56
The difference between the basic and diluted weighted average number of shares
represents the dilutive impact of the Share Incentive Plan, Performance Share
Plan, Deferred Annual Bonus, Single Incentive Plan Award and Sharesave scheme,
which are conditional on a service condition.
The average number of shares in issue during the period is reconciled to the
basic and diluted weighted average number of shares below:
6 months ended 30 September 2025 6 months ended 30 September 2024
Weighted average ordinary shares in issue 879,386,545 901,529,820
Less weighted effect of ordinary shares held in treasury (4,934,260) (4,541,376)
Less weighted effect of shares held in the ESOT (291,084) (306,454)
Weighted average number of shares for basic EPS 874,161,201 896,681,990
Dilutive impact of share options outstanding 2,716,688 2,767,254
Weighted average number of shares for diluted EPS 876,877,889 899,449,244
The average market value of the Group's shares, for the purpose of calculating
the dilutive effect of share-based incentives, was based on quoted market
prices for the period during which the share-based incentives were
outstanding.
7. Intangible assets
Goodwill Software & website Brand Other Total
development costs
£m £m £m £m £m
Opening balance at 1 April 2025 427.6 11.9 24.8 7.9 472.2
Amortisation charge - (1.3) (5.6) (0.7) (7.6)
Closing balance at 30 September 2025 427.6 10.6 19.2 7.2 464.6
Goodwill Software & website Brand Other Total
development costs
£m £m £m £m £m
Opening balance at 1 April 2024 427.6 14.6 36.0 9.5 487.7
Amortisation charge - (1.4) (5.6) (0.7) (7.7)
Closing balance at 30 September 2024 427.6 13.2 30.4 8.8 480.0
At 30 September 2025, the Group assessed indicators over the impairment of
goodwill relating to its Digital and Autorama cash generating units. No
indicators were identified at this date. A full annual impairment test will be
carried out by the financial year end in line with IAS 36: Impairment of
non-financial assets.
8. Property, plant and equipment
Land, buildings and leasehold improvements Motor vehicles Work in progress Total
Office equipment
£m £m £m £m £m
Opening balance at 1 April 2025 7.6 3.0 0.2 2.6 13.4
Additions 44.1 0.7 - 11.3 56.1
Disposals - - (0.2) - (0.2)
Reclassification to assets held for sale (3.9) - - - (3.9)
Depreciation charge (2.7) (0.8) - - (3.5)
Closing balance at 30 September 2025 45.1 2.9 - 13.9 61.9
Land, buildings and leasehold improvements Motor vehicles Work in progress Total
Office equipment
£m £m £m £m £m
Opening balance at 1 April 2024 10.8 3.7 0.4 - 14.9
Additions 0.2 0.6 0.2 0.5 1.5
Disposals (0.1) (0.1) (0.3) - (0.5)
Depreciation charge (1.7) (0.8) (0.1) - (2.6)
Closing balance at 30 September 2024 9.2 3.4 0.2 0.5 13.3
Included within property, plant and equipment are £44.7m (September 2024:
£3.9m) of assets recognised as leases under IFRS 16. During the period, a
depreciation expense of £3.5m (September 2024: £2.6m) has been recorded in
operating costs.
During the current period, management committed to a plan to sell its property
in the Autorama segment, which meets the definition of assets held for sale.
The carrying value of £3.9m has been reclassified to assets held for sale
(note 11).
During the prior period, the Group announced the planned relocation of its
head office. During the current period, the Group has incurred costs of
£11.3m (September 2024: £0.5m), disclosed under work in progress.
9. Leases
The Group's lease assets are held within property, plant and equipment.
Information about leases for which the Group is a lessee is presented below.
Analysis of property, plant and equipment between owned and leased assets September September March
2025 2024 2025
£m £m £m
Property plant and equipment owned 17.2 9.4 10.6
Right-of-use assets 44.7 3.9 2.8
61.9 13.3 13.4
Right-of-use assets
Office equipment Total
Property Vehicles
£m £m £m £m
Opening balance at 1 April 2025 2.4 0.2 0.2 2.8
Additions 44.1 - - 44.1
Depreciation (2.0) (0.1) (0.1) (2.2)
Closing balance at 30 September 2025 44.5 0.1 0.1 44.7
Property Vehicles Office equipment Total
£m £m £m £m
Opening balance at 1 April 2024 4.4 0.4 0.2 5.0
Additions - 0.2 0.1 0.3
Disposals - (0.2) - (0.2)
Depreciation (1.0) (0.1) (0.1) (1.2)
Closing balance at 30 September 2024 3.4 0.3 0.2 3.9
Lease liabilities September September March
2025 2024 2025
£m £m £m
Current 1.1 2.2 2.1
Non-current 41.1 1.6 0.4
Total 42.2 3.8 2.5
10. Trade and other receivables
September September March
2025 2024 2025
£m £m £m
Trade receivables (invoiced) 33.2 31.7 30.3
Net accrued income 47.3 44.4 44.4
Trade receivables (total) 80.5 76.1 74.7
Prepayments 7.6 9.2 10.0
Other receivables 0.3 0.4 -
Total 88.4 85.7 84.7
11. Assets held for sale
In September 2025, management committed to a plan to sell its property in the
Autorama segment. Accordingly, that property is presented as an asset held for
sale. Efforts to sell the property are underway and a sale is expected by
December 2025.
At September 2025, the asset was stated at its carrying value of £3.9m and
comprised property, plant and equipment. There were no liabilities in relation
to the asset. The carrying value was lower than the fair value less costs to
sell, therefore no impairment was recorded. The fair value was measured as the
sale price which has been agreed by the proposed buyer.
12. Trade and other payables
September September March
2025 2024 2025
£m £m £m
Trade payables 1.6 4.0 2.6
Accruals 14.0 14.0 13.9
Other taxes and social security 22.9 25.9 22.6
Deferred income 4.3 6.0 5.3
Digital Services Tax 15.8 5.1 10.2
Vehicle stocking loan 3.8 3.6 1.0
Other payables 1.6 1.9 2.2
Accrued interest payable 0.2 0.2 0.1
Total 64.2 60.7 57.9
13. Retirement benefit obligations
The Group operates a number of pension schemes in the UK. All except one are
defined contribution schemes.
Defined contribution schemes
In the period, the pension contributions to the Group's defined contribution
schemes amounted to £2.3m (September 2024: £2.3m; March 2025: £4.7m). At 30
September 2025, £0.9m (September 2024: £0.8m; March 2025: £0.8m) of pension
contributions were outstanding relating to the Group's defined contribution
schemes.
Defined benefit scheme
The defined benefit pension scheme provides benefits based on final
pensionable pay. The scheme has been closed to future members since 30 April
2006 and there are no remaining active members within the scheme. No other
post-retirement benefits are provided to these employees.
In the year ended 31 March 2023, the Scheme purchased a bulk annuity policy
(known as a buy-in) from Just Retirement Limited ('Just Retirement') for
£15.4m, which was funded by a £1.0m contribution by the Company along with
existing scheme assets. This policy secured the full benefits of all Scheme
members, which as at the remeasurement date amounted to £13.7m. Given the
financial strength of Just Retirement, this buy-in substantively removes the
risk of further contributions being required from the Company to provide
benefits to members, beyond those noted below.
On 12 September 2025, the Scheme converted its existing buy-in policy into
individual policies for each member ('buy-out'). At the same point, the buy-in
policy was updated to reflect the data and benefits cleansing exercise and to
allow for benefits that were initially excluded from the policy. The Scheme
paid an additional "balancing premium" of £0.4m which has been recognised in
the Consolidated income statement as a settlement cost. At 31 September 2025,
the Scheme's balance sheet reflected a residual balance in the Trustee bank
account, which is expected to be used to meet the expenses of winding-up the
Trust.
The amounts recognised in the Consolidated balance sheet are determined as
follows:
September September March
2025 2024 2025
£m £m £m
Present value of funded obligations - 12.6 11.3
Fair value of plan assets (0.1) (12.9) (11.5)
Net asset recognised in the Consolidated balance sheet (0.1) (0.3) (0.2)
During the year ending 31 March 2020, the Trustees of the scheme sought legal
advice which concluded that the Company has an unconditional right to a refund
of surplus from the scheme, if the scheme were to be run-off until the final
beneficiary died. As a result, the Group has concluded that the recognition
restrictions of IFRIC14 do not apply and therefore has recognised the
accounting surplus of £0.1m in the Consolidated balance sheet.
The amounts recognised in the Consolidated income statement are as follows:
September September March
2025 2024 2025
£m £m £m
Settlement cost 0.4 - -
Total amounts charged to the Consolidated income statement 0.4 - -
The amounts recognised in the Consolidated statement of comprehensive income
are as follows:
September September March
2025 2024 2025
£m £m £m
Return on Scheme assets below that recognised in net interest 0.2 0.9 2.2
Actuarial gains due to changes in assumptions (0.1) (0.5) (1.5)
Actuarial losses due to liability experience - - (0.1)
Deferred tax on surplus - (0.1) (0.1)
Total amounts recognised within the Consolidated statement of 0.1 0.3 0.5
comprehensive income
Movements during the period in the post-employment defined benefit obligations
are as follows:
September September March
2025 2024 2025
£m £m £m
Opening post-employment benefit surplus (0.2) (0.6) (0.6)
Settlement cost 0.4 - -
Contributions by the employer (0.4) (0.1) (0.1)
Remeasurement and experience losses 0.1 0.4 0.5
Closing post-employment benefit obligation (0.1) (0.3) (0.2)
14. Dividends
Dividends declared and paid in the period were as follows:
September 2025 September 2024
Pence per share £m Pence per share £m
2025 final dividend paid 7.1 62.0 - -
2024 final dividend paid - - 6.4 57.3
Total 7.1 62.0 6.4 57.3
An interim dividend of 3.8 pence per share for the six months to September
2025 (September 2024: 3.5 pence per share) has been declared by the Directors,
totalling £31.5m (September 2024: £31.5m) based on the number of shares
eligible for distribution as at 30 September 2025. The interim dividend is
payable on 26 January 2026 to shareholders on the register at the close of
business on 5 January 2026. No provision has been made for the interim
dividend and there are no income tax consequences.
15. Borrowings
September September March
2025 2024 2025
Non-current £m £m £m
Syndicated RCF gross of unamortised debt issue cost 15.0 - -
Unamortised debt issue costs on Syndicated RCF (1.9) - -
Total borrowings 13.1 - -
In the prior period, unamortised debt issue costs on the Syndicated RCF of
£2.0m were recorded as a Prepayment.
Borrowings are repayable as follows:
September September March
2025 2024 2025
£m £m £m
Less than one year - - -
Within two to five years 15.0 - -
Total 15.0 - -
The carrying amounts of borrowings approximate their fair values.
Syndicated revolving credit facility ('Syndicated RCF')
The Group has access to a £200.0m unsecured Syndicated RCF. In February 2024,
the Group extended the term of the Syndicated RCF by one year to February
2029, and on 1 February 2025, exercised the second extension option, extending
the term of the facility by a further one year to February 2030. Until
February 2029, the available facility is £200.0m, reducing to £165.0m
thereafter due to one lender not participating in the second extension option.
No further extensions are permitted under the current agreement. There is no
requirement to settle all or part of the facility before the termination date.
The Syndicated RCF has financial covenants linked to interest cover and the
consolidated debt cover of the Group:
· Net bank debt to EBITDA must not exceed 3.5:1.
· EBITDA to Net Interest Payable must not be less than 3.0:1.
EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and
amortisation, share-based payments and associated NI, share of profit from
joint ventures and exceptional items.
All financial covenants of the facility have been complied with throughout the
period.
16. Cash generated from operations
6 months to September 6 months to September Year to March
2025 2024 2025
£m £m £m
Profit after taxation 150.9 139.6 282.6
Adjustments for:
Taxation 48.4 47.9 93.1
Depreciation 3.5 2.6 5.2
Amortisation 7.6 7.7 15.5
Share-based payments charge (excluding associated NI) 6.0 5.5 9.7
Share of profit in joint ventures (2.1) (1.8) (3.6)
Post-employment expenses relating to the defined benefit scheme 0.4 - -
Net finance costs 0.8 0.9 1.1
Research and Development Expenditure Credit - - (2.3)
Changes in working capital:
Trade and other receivables (5.8) (0.4) 0.6
Trade and other payables 7.0 0.3 (3.0)
Inventory (1.3) (0.7) 0.6
Provisions - - 0.2
Cash generated from operations 215.4 201.6 399.7
17. Share capital
As at 30 September 2025 As at 30 September 2024 As at 31 March 2025
Number Amount Number Amount Number Amount
'000 £m '000 £m '000 £m
Allotted, called-up and fully paid ordinary shares of 1p each
At beginning of period 884,701 8.9 907,214 9.2 907,214 9.2
Purchase and cancellation of own shares (11,297) (0.1) (8,487) (0.2) (22,513) (0.3)
Total 873,404 8.8 898,727 9.0 884,701 8.9
During the period, 11.3 million shares were purchased for cancellation
(September 2024: 8.5 million; March 2025: 23.9 million) and 1.3 million shares
were purchased for treasury (September 2024: nil; March 2025: nil). The
average price per share was 796.1p (H1 2025: 764.5p) for a total consideration
of £100.2m (H1 2025: £64.9m) before transaction costs of £0.5m (H1 2025:
£0.3m).
Included within shares in issue at 30 September 2025 are 288,220 (September
2024: 299,708; March 2025: 294,600) shares held by the ESOT and 5,216,802
(September 2024: 3,870,305; March 2025: 4,600,897) shares held in treasury, as
detailed in note 18.
18. Own shares held
Own shares held - £m ESOT shares reserve Treasury Total
shares
£m
£m
£m
Own shares held as at 1 April 2024 (0.4) (30.9) (31.3)
Repurchase of own shares for treasury - (10.8) (10.8)
Share-based incentives exercised - 10.5 10.5
Own shares held as at 31 March 2025 (0.4) (31.2) (31.6)
Repurchase of own shares for treasury - (10.6) (10.6)
Share-based incentives exercised - 4.7 4.7
Own shares held as at 30 September 2025 (0.4) (37.1) (37.5)
Own shares held - number ESOT shares reserve Treasury Total
Number of shares shares Number of shares
Number of shares
Own shares held as at 1 April 2024 312,831 4,899,346 5,212,177
Transfer of shares from ESOT (18,231) - (18,231)
Repurchase of own shares for treasury - 1,360,000 1,360,000
Share-based incentives exercised - (1,658,449) (1,658,449)
Own shares held as at 31 March 2025 294,600 4,600,897 4,895,497
Transfer of shares from ESOT (6,380) - (6,380)
Repurchase of own shares for treasury - 1,295,147 1,295,147
Share-based incentives exercised - (679,242) (679,242)
Own shares held as at 30 September 2025 288,220 5,216,802 5,505,022
19. Share-based payments
The Group currently operates five share plans: the Share Incentive Plan,
Performance Share Plan, Deferred Annual Bonus, Single Incentive Plan Award and
the Sharesave scheme.
All share-based incentives are subject to a service condition. Such conditions
are not taken into account in the fair value of the service received. The fair
value of services received in return for share-based incentives is measured by
reference to the fair value of share-based incentives granted. Black-Scholes
and Monte Carlo models have been used where appropriate to calculate the fair
value of share-based incentives with market conditions.
The total charge in the period relating to the five schemes was £7.1m
(September 2024: £7.0m; March 2025: £11.7m). This included associated
national insurance ('NI') at the rate at which management expects to be
effective when the awards are exercised (15.0%), and apprenticeship levy at
0.5%, based on the share price at the reporting date.
September September March
2025 2024 2025
£m £m £m
Share Incentive Plan ('SIP') - - -
Sharesave scheme ('SAYE') 0.3 0.3 0.7
Performance Share Plan ('PSP') 1.3 1.2 2.1
Deferred Annual Bonus Plan and Single Incentive Plan Award 4.4 4.0 6.9
NI and apprenticeship levy on applicable schemes 1.1 1.5 2.0
Total charge 7.1 7.0 11.7
Share Incentive Plan
In 2015, the Group established a Share Incentive Plan ('SIP'). Eligible
employees were awarded free shares (or nil-cost options in the case of
employees in Ireland) valued at £3,600 each based on the share price at the
time of the Company's admission to the Stock Exchange in March 2015. Shares
issued to satisfy the SIP were purchased by the Employee Share Option Trust
('ESOT').
September September March
2025 2024 2025
UK SIP Number Number Number
Outstanding at beginning of period 50,719 68,950 68,950
Options exercised in the period (6,380) (13,123) (18,231)
Vested and outstanding at period ending 44,339 55,827 50,719
Performance Share Plan
The Group operates a Performance Share Plan ('PSP') for Executive Directors.
The extent to which awards vest will depend upon the Group's performance over
the three-year period following the award date. Both market based and
non-market based performance conditions may be attached to the options, for
which an appropriate adjustment is made when calculating the fair value of an
option. If the options remain unexercised after a period of 10 years from the
date of grant, the options expire. Furthermore, options are forfeited if the
employee leaves the Group before the options vest, unless under exceptional
circumstances.
On 25 June 2025, the Group awarded 419,343 nil cost options under the PSP
scheme. For the 2025 awards, the Group's performance is measured by reference
to growth in Earnings per Share (70% of the award), Revenue (20% of the award)
and Cultural KPIs (10% of the award) over the period to March 2028.
September September March
2025 2024 2025
Number Number Number
Outstanding at beginning of period 1,174,581 1,116,040 1,116,040
Options granted in the period 419,343 457,203 457,203
Dividend shares awarded 10,591 14,018 14,018
Options exercised in the period (278,586) (373,318) (401,259)
Options forfeited in the period (92,700) (11,421) (11,421)
Outstanding at period ending 1,233,229 1,202,522 1,174,581
Deferred Annual Bonus Plan and Single Incentive Plan Award
The Group operates a Deferred Annual Bonus Plan ('DABP') and Single Incentive
Plan Award ('SIPA') for Executive Directors, the Autotrader Leadership Team
and certain key employees. There is also a Single Incentive Plan Award for all
employees under the existing scheme rules.
Deferred Annual Bonus Plan
The Group operates a Deferred Annual Bonus Plan ('DABP') for Executive
Directors. Awards under the plan are contingent on the satisfaction of pre-set
internal targets relating to financial and operational objectives. The extent
to which the awards vest will depend upon the satisfaction of the Group's
financial and operational performance in the financial year of the award date
(the 'Performance Conditions'). The awards will vest on the second anniversary
of the date the Remuneration Committee determines that the Performance
Conditions have been satisfied (the 'Vesting Period'). Awards are potentially
forfeitable during that period should the employee leave employment. The DABP
awards have been valued using the Black-Scholes method where appropriate and
the resulting share-based payments charge is being spread evenly over the
combined Performance Period and Vesting Period of the shares, being three
years.
On 25 June 2025, the Group awarded 56,284 nil cost options under the DABP.
September September March
2025 2024 2025
Number Number Number
Outstanding at beginning of period 218,831 212,034 212,034
Options granted in the period 56,284 115,501 115,501
Dividend shares awarded 2,684 2,992 2,992
Options exercised in the period (106,014) (111,696) (111,696)
Outstanding at period ending 171,785 218,831 218,831
Single Incentive Plan Award
The Group operates a Single Incentive Plan Award ('SIPA') for the Autotrader
Leadership Team and certain key employees. The extent to which awards vest
will depend upon the satisfaction of the Group's financial and operational
performance in the financial year of the award date (the 'Performance
Conditions'). The awards will vest in tranches, with the first tranche vesting
on the date on which the Remuneration Committee determines that the
Performance Conditions have been satisfied, and subsequent tranches vesting on
the first and second anniversary of this date, subject to continuing
employment.
On 25 June 2025, the Group awarded 508,903 nil cost options under the SIPA
scheme. For the 2025 awards, 75% of the award value is dependent on FY26
operating profit and the remaining 25% is subject to successful implementation
of digital retailing related products by 31 March 2026. The fair value of the
2025 award was determined to be £8.12 per option, being the mid-market price
for the three months leading up to the grant date.
The Group also operates an All-Employee Single Incentive Plan Award ('One
Autotrader Share Award') that rewards employees with an extra 10% of their
salary in shares. The awards will vest in tranches, with the first tranche
vesting on the first anniversary of the grant date and subsequent tranches
vesting on the first and second anniversary of this date, subject to
continuing employment.
September September March
2025 2024 2025
Number Number Number
Outstanding at beginning of period 2,813,386 2,513,318 2,513,318
Options granted in the period 508,903 572,377 1,403,395
Dividend shares awarded 11,496 12,273 12,273
Options exercised in the period (253,120) (105,308) (166,066)
Options forfeited in the period (404,127) (491,880) (949,534)
Outstanding at period ending 2,676,538 2,500,780 2,813,386
Sharesave scheme
The Group operates a Sharesave ('SAYE') scheme for all employees under which
employees are granted an option to purchase ordinary shares in the Company at
up to 20% less than the market price at invitation, in three years' time,
dependent on their entering into a contract to make monthly contributions into
a savings account over the relevant period. Options are granted and are linked
to a savings contract with a term of three years. These funds are used to fund
the option exercise. No performance criteria are applied to the exercise of
Sharesave options.
Expected volatility is estimated by considering historic average share price
volatility at the grant date. The requirement that an employee has to save in
order to purchase shares under the Sharesave plan is a non-vesting condition.
This feature has been incorporated into the fair value at grant date by
applying a discount to the valuation obtained from the Black-Scholes pricing
model.
September September March
2025 2024 2025
Number Number Number
Outstanding at beginning of period 1,088,842 856,958 856,958
Options granted in the period 338,640 489,713 489,713
Options exercised in the period (41,522) (50,600)- (194,413)
Options lapsed in the period -(12,684)- (19,927) -(30,403)-
Options cancelled in the period (35,143) (10,263) (33,013)
Outstanding at period ending 1,338,133 1,265,881 1,088,842
20. Related party transactions
The Company is the ultimate parent entity of the Group. Intercompany
transactions with wholly owned subsidiaries have been excluded from this note,
as per the exemption offered in IAS 24.
Dealer Auction Limited
The Group transacted the following related party transactions with its joint
venture, Dealer Auction Limited (previously Dealer Auction (Holdings) Limited)
and its subsidiaries (together 'Dealer Auction'), during the period. The
Group introduced consumers selling their vehicle directly to retailers to the
Dealer Auction platform and provided data services under a licence agreement
established as part of the formation of the joint venture in January 2019. The
value of services provided to Dealer Auction was £0.7m (September 2024:
£0.3m) and has been recognised within revenue. On 30 September 2025, deferred
income outstanding in relation to the license agreement was £7.5m (September
2024: £8.0m).
Key management personnel
Key management personnel share plan awards have been outlined in note 19.
21. Forward looking statements
This report includes statements that are forward looking in nature. Forward
looking statements involve known and unknown risks, assumptions, uncertainties
and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or
achievements of the Group to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking
statements. Except as required by the Listing Rules and applicable law, the
Company undertakes no obligation to update, revise or change any
forward-looking statements to reflect events or developments occurring after
the date of this report.
INDEPENDENT REVIEW REPORT TO AUTO TRADER GROUP PLC
Conclusion
We have been engaged by Auto Trader Group plc ("the Company") to review the
condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly financial report for
the six months ended 30 September 2025 which comprises consolidated interim
income statement, consolidated interim statement of comprehensive income,
consolidated interim balance sheet, consolidated interim statement of changes
in equity and consolidated interim statement of cash flows and the related
explanatory notes.
Based on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to
believe that the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly
financial report for the six months ended 30 September 2025 is not prepared,
in all material respects, in accordance with IAS 34 Interim Financial
Reporting as adopted for use in the UK and the Disclosure Guidance and
Transparency Rules ("the DTR") of the UK's Financial Conduct Authority ("the
UK FCA").
Basis for conclusion
We conducted our review in accordance with International Standard on Review
Engagements (UK) 2410 Review of Interim Financial Information Performed by the
Independent Auditor of the Entity ("ISRE (UK) 2410") issued for use in the
UK. A review of interim financial information consists of making enquiries,
primarily of persons responsible for financial and accounting matters, and
applying analytical and other review procedures. We read the other
information contained in the half-yearly financial report and consider whether
it contains any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the
information in the condensed set of financial statements.
A review is substantially less in scope than an audit conducted in accordance
with International Standards on Auditing (UK) and consequently does not enable
us to obtain assurance that we would become aware of all significant matters
that might be identified in an audit. Accordingly, we do not express an
audit opinion.
Conclusions relating to going concern
Based on our review procedures, which are less extensive than those performed
in an audit as described in the Basis for conclusion section of this report,
nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the directors
have inappropriately adopted the going concern basis of accounting, or that
the directors have identified material uncertainties relating to going concern
that have not been appropriately disclosed.
This conclusion is based on the review procedures performed in accordance with
ISRE (UK) 2410. However, future events or conditions may cause the Group to
cease to continue as a going concern, and the above conclusions are not a
guarantee that the Group will continue in operation.
Directors' responsibilities
The half-yearly financial report is the responsibility of, and has been
approved by, the directors. The directors are responsible for preparing the
half-yearly financial report in accordance with the DTR of the UK FCA.
As disclosed in note 1, the annual financial statements of the Group are
prepared in accordance with UK-adopted international accounting standards.
The directors are responsible for preparing the condensed set of financial
statements included in the half-yearly financial report in accordance with IAS
34 as adopted for use in the UK.
In preparing the condensed set of financial statements, the directors are
responsible for assessing the Group's ability to continue as a going concern,
disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the
going concern basis of accounting unless the directors either intend to
liquidate the Group or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative
but to do so.
Our responsibility
Our responsibility is to express to the Company a conclusion on the condensed
set of financial statements in the half-yearly financial report based on our
review. Our conclusion, including our conclusions relating to going concern,
are based on procedures that are less extensive than audit procedures, as
described in the Basis for conclusion section of this report.
The purpose of our review work and to whom we owe our responsibilities
This report is made solely to the Company in accordance with the terms of our
engagement to assist the Company in meeting the requirements of the DTR of the
UK FCA. Our review has been undertaken so that we might state to the Company
those matters we are required to state to it in this report and for no other
purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume
responsibility to anyone other than the Company for our review work, for this
report, or for the conclusions we have reached.
Ailsa Griffin
for and on behalf of KPMG LLP
Chartered Accountants
1 St Peter's Square
Manchester
M2 3AE
6 November 2025
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