Group 1 Automotive Reports 2024 Fourth Quarter Financial Results and Record Full Year Revenues of $19.9 billion

• Current quarter diluted earnings per common share from continuing operations of $7.08 and current quarter adjusted diluted earnings per common share from continuing operations (a non-GAAP measure) of $10.02
• Full year all-time record retail new and used vehicle units sold of 413,364, a 13.8% increase over the comparable prior year period
• Gross profit of $879.2 million from total revenues of $5.5 billion, both quarterly records, and a 20.3% and 23.8% increase, respectively, over the comparable prior year period

HOUSTON, Jan. 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) ("Group 1" or the "Company"), a Fortune 250 automotive retailer with 259 dealerships located in the U.S. and U.K., today reported financial results for the fourth quarter of 2024 ("current quarter") and full year 2024 ("current year").

"Our U.S. team continues to execute at a high level. Our parts and service revenue growth of 12.2% was the best quarter in the last four quarters. SG&A leverage was outstanding, and our new vehicle PRUs were up sequentially on a U.S. as reported basis. Also, we are realizing the benefits of some exceptional acquisitions and prudent divestitures. Over the last year, because of our excellent relationships with our OEM partners, we've added great brands like Lexus, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, and Toyota in some great U.S. markets," said Daryl Kenningham, Group 1's President and Chief Executive Officer.

"Our U.K. team is better positioned today than at any time in our history, with exceptional brand partners and a portfolio of dealerships that provide us geographic diversification across a broader U.K. market," said Daryl Kenningham. "Our ongoing restructuring actions to integrate Inchcape Retail stores which began in the fourth quarter of 2024 will ultimately position us to capture the full value of this acquisition."

Reconciliations for financial results, non-GAAP metrics, and diluted earnings per common share between  continuing and discontinued operations are included in the accompanying financial tables.

Current Quarter Results Overview

• Total revenues for the current quarter were $5.5 billion, a 23.8% increase compared to $4.5 billion for the fourth quarter of 2023 ("prior year quarter").
• Net income from continuing operations for the current quarter was $94.6 million, a 13.1% decrease compared to $108.8 million for the prior year quarter.
• Current quarter adjusted net income from continuing operations (a non-GAAP measure) was $133.9 million, a 2.1% increase compared to $131.2 million for the prior year quarter. Net income from continuing operations for the current quarter included impairment charges of $33.0 million primarily attributable to franchise rights intangible assets for four dealerships in the U.S.
• Current quarter diluted earnings per common share from continuing operations was $7.08, a 10.1% decrease compared to $7.87 for the prior year quarter. Current quarter adjusted diluted earnings per common share from continuing operations (a non-GAAP measure) was $10.02, a 5.5% increase compared to $9.50 for the prior year quarter.

Full Year 2024 Results Overview

• Current year total revenues were a record $19.9 billion, an 11.5% increase compared to $17.9 billion for the full year 2023 ("prior year").
• Current year net income from continuing operations was $497.0 million, a 17.4% decrease compared to $602.0 million for the prior year. Current year adjusted net income from continuing operations (a non-GAAP measure) was $530.6 million, a 14.9% decrease compared to $623.3 million for the prior year.
• Current year diluted earnings per common share from continuing operations was $36.72, a 14.1% decrease compared to $42.75 for the prior year. Current year adjusted diluted earnings per common share from continuing operations (a non-GAAP measure) was $39.21, an 11.4% decrease compared to $44.27 for the prior year.

U.K. Update

The previously announced consummation of the Inchcape Retail acquisition in the third quarter of 2024, added 54 dealerships in key hubs such as the Midlands, the Northwest of England, and Wales. The added scale and geographic diversification, combined with a great portfolio of brand partners, will enable us to better meet the demands of U.K. consumers. Integration activities began immediately, including the initiation of a U.K. wide restructuring plan during the current quarter consisting of workforce realignment, strategic closing of certain facilities and systems integrations. In the current quarter, we made significant progress in the conversion of the legacy Inchcape dealer management system ("DMS") to our existing U.K. DMS.  This conversion hampered our operations for a period of time as we completed the in-store conversions. As a result of these restructuring and integration actions, the Company recognized $16.7 million in restructuring charges in the current quarter. We expect a significant number of restructuring activities to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2025. 

Corporate Development

In October 2024, the Company acquired a BMW/MINI dealership located in the U.K. This acquisition is expected to generate approximately $125.0 million in annual revenues.

During the current year, the Company has successfully acquired and integrated dealership operations with total expected annual revenues of approximately $3.9 billion. We remain focused on quickly and efficiently integrating our acquisitions into our existing operations to drive incremental value creation for shareholders.

Share Repurchases

During the current quarter, the Company repurchased 80,300 shares at an average price per common share of $398.30, for a total of $32.0 million, excluding excise taxes of $0.3 million.

During the current year, the Company repurchased 518,465 shares, representing approximately 3.8% of the Company's outstanding common shares at January 1 of the current year, at an average price per common share of $311.67, for a total of $161.6 million, excluding excise taxes of $1.4 million.

As of December 31, 2024, the Company had an aggregate 13.3 million outstanding common shares and unvested restricted stock awards. As of December 31, 2024, the Company had $476.1 million remaining on its Board authorized common share repurchase program.

Future repurchases may be made from time to time, based on market conditions, legal requirements, and other corporate considerations, in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions, and subject to Board approval and covenant restrictions.

Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Earnings Conference Call Details

Group 1's senior management will host a conference call today at 10:00 a.m. ET to discuss the fourth quarter and full year 2024 financial results. The conference call will be simulcast live on the Internet at group1corp.com/events. A webcast replay will be available for 30 days. A copy of the Company's presentation will also be made available at http://www.group1corp.com/company-presentations.

The conference call will also be available live by dialing in 10 minutes prior to the start of the call at:

A telephonic replay will be available following the call through February 5, 2025, by dialing:

ABOUT GROUP 1 AUTOMOTIVE, INC.

Group 1 owns and operates 259 automotive dealerships, 331 franchises, and 39 collision centers in the United States and the United Kingdom that offer 35 brands of automobiles. Through its dealerships and omni-channel platform, the Company sells new and used cars and light trucks; arranges related vehicle financing; sells service contracts; provides automotive maintenance and repair services; and sells vehicle parts.

Group 1 discloses additional information about the Company, its business, and its results of operations at www.group1corp.com, www.group1auto.com, www.group1collision.com, www.acceleride.com, and www.facebook.com/group1auto. 

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are statements related to future, not past, events and are based on our current expectations and assumptions regarding our business, the economy and other future conditions. In this context, the forward-looking statements often include statements regarding our strategic investments, goals, plans, projections and guidance regarding our financial position, results of operations and business strategy, including the annualized revenues of recently completed acquisitions or dispositions and other benefits of such currently anticipated or recently completed acquisitions or dispositions. These forward-looking statements often contain words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "should," "foresee," "may" or "will" and similar expressions. While management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made, there can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we anticipate. Any such forward-looking statements are not assurances of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, (a) general economic and business conditions, (b) the level of manufacturer incentives, (c) the future regulatory environment, including any changes thereto relating to the U.S. presidential transition (d) our ability to obtain an inventory of desirable new and used vehicles, (e) our relationship with our automobile manufacturers and the willingness of manufacturers to approve future acquisitions, (f) our cost of financing and the availability of credit for consumers, (g) our ability to complete acquisitions and dispositions, on a timely basis, if at all and the risks associated therewith, (h) our ability to successfully integrate recent and future acquisitions and realize the expected benefits from consummated acquisitions, (i) foreign exchange controls and currency fluctuations, (j) the armed conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, (k) the impacts of sustained levels of inflation and potential changes in U.S. trade policy, including the imposition of tariffs and the resulting consequences, (l) our ability to maintain sufficient liquidity to operate, (m) a material failure in or breach of our vendors' information technology systems and other cybersecurity incidents, and (n) the receipt of any insurance or other recoveries. For additional information regarding known material factors that could cause our actual results to differ from our projected results, please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements after the date they are made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES, SAME STORE DATA, AND OTHER DATA

In addition to evaluating the financial condition and results of our operations in accordance with U.S. GAAP, from time to time our management evaluates and analyzes results and any impact on the Company of strategic decisions and actions relating to, among other things, cost reduction, growth, profitability improvement initiatives, and other events outside of normal, or "core," business and operations, by considering alternative financial measures not prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. In our evaluation of results from time to time, we exclude items that do not arise directly from core operations, such as non-cash asset impairment charges, out-of-period adjustments, legal matters, gains and losses on dealership franchise or real estate transactions, and catastrophic events, such as hailstorms, hurricanes and snow storms, and employment compensation costs associated with the cybersecurity incident recently experienced by third-party software provider, CDK Global LLC.. Because these non-core charges and gains materially affect the Company's financial condition or results in the specific period in which they are recognized, management also evaluates, and makes resource allocation and performance evaluation decisions based on, the related non-GAAP measures excluding such items. This includes evaluating measures such as adjusted selling, general and administrative expenses, adjusted net income, adjusted diluted earnings per share, and constant currency. These adjusted measures are not measures of financial performance under U.S. GAAP, but are instead considered non-GAAP financial performance measures. Non-GAAP measures do not have definitions under U.S. GAAP and may be defined differently by, and not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by, other companies. As a result, any non-GAAP financial measures considered and evaluated by management are reviewed in conjunction with a review of the most directly comparable measures calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. We caution investors not to place undue reliance on such non-GAAP measures, but also to consider them with the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measures.

In addition to using such non-GAAP measures to evaluate results in a specific period, management believes that such measures may provide more complete and consistent comparisons of operational performance on a period-over-period historical basis and a better indication of expected future trends. Our management also uses these adjusted measures in conjunction with U.S. GAAP financial measures to assess our business, including communication with our Board of Directors, investors, and industry analysts concerning financial performance. We disclose these non-GAAP measures, and the related reconciliations, because we believe investors use these metrics in evaluating longer-term period-over-period performance, and to allow investors to better understand and evaluate the information used by management to assess operating performance. The exclusion of certain expenses in the calculation of non-GAAP financial measures should not be construed as an inference that these costs are unusual or infrequent. We anticipate excluding these expenses in the future presentation of our non-GAAP financial measures.

In addition, we evaluate our results of operations on both an as reported and a constant currency basis. The constant currency presentation, which is a non-GAAP measure, excludes the impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. We believe providing constant currency information provides valuable supplemental information regarding our underlying business and results of operations, consistent with how we evaluate our performance. We calculate constant currency percentages by converting our current period reported results for entities reporting in currencies other than U.S. dollars using comparative period exchange rates rather than the actual exchange rates in effect during the respective periods. The constant currency performance measures should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The Same Store amounts presented include the results of dealerships for the identical months in each period presented in comparison, commencing with the first full month in which the dealership was owned by us and, in the case of dispositions, ending with the last full month it was owned by us. Same Store results also include the activities of our corporate headquarters.

Certain amounts in the financial statements may not compute due to rounding. All computations have been calculated using unrounded amounts for all periods presented.

Investor contacts:

Terry Bratton

Manager, Investor Relations

Group 1 Automotive, Inc.

[email protected] 

Media contacts:

Pete DeLongchamps

Senior Vice President, Financial Services and Manufacturer Relations

Group 1 Automotive, Inc.

[email protected] 

Kimberly Barta

Head of Marketing and Communications

Group 1 Automotive, Inc.

[email protected] 

or

Clint Woods

Pierpont Communications, Inc.

713-627-2223 | [email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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SOURCE Group 1 Automotive, Inc.