Group 1 Automotive Reports Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results

• Current quarter diluted earnings per common share from continuing operations of $8.68 and current quarter adjusted diluted earnings per common share from continuing operations (a non-GAAP measure) of $9.90
• Gross profit of $852.7 million from total revenues of $5.2 billion, both quarterly records, and an 8.4% and 11.0% increase, respectively, over the comparable prior year period

HOUSTON, Oct. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) ("Group 1" or the "Company"), a Fortune 250 automotive retailer with 260 dealerships located in the U.S. and U.K., today reported financial results for the third quarter of 2024 ("current quarter").

Current quarter net income from continuing operations was $117.1 million. Current quarter adjusted net income from continuing operations (a non-GAAP measure) was $133.5 million. Current quarter diluted earnings per common share from continuing operations was $8.68. Current quarter adjusted diluted earnings per common share from continuing operations (a non-GAAP measure) was $9.90. Current quarter adjusted diluted earnings per common share from continuing operations excludes $14.8 million in pre-tax acquisition costs incurred during the current quarter.

"We continue to grow revenues through acquisitions. During the quarter, we executed strategic U.K. transactions which added 58 dealerships. We are excited to expand our operations across the broader U.K. with great brands, and will continue to explore growth-oriented opportunities," said Daryl Kenningham, Group 1's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We were pleased to have set quarterly records for new and used vehicle units sold, while GPUs only declined $161 and $63, sequentially from the second quarter, for new and used vehicles, respectively. Global stop sales on certain vehicle models with luxury manufacturers BMW and Lexus impacted sales during the quarter. Weather events in Texas early in the quarter and in the southeast later in the quarter also impacted our business."

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 $5.2 billion, a 11.0% increase compared to $4.7 billion for the third quarter of 2023 ("prior year quarter").

Net income from continuing operations for the current quarter was $117.1 million, a 28.6% decrease compared to $164.1 million for the prior year quarter. Current quarter adjusted net income from continuing operations (a non-GAAP measure) was $133.5 million, a 21.4% decrease compared to $169.8 million for the prior year quarter. In the current quarter, net income from continuing operations and adjusted net income from continuing operations were primarily impacted by higher interest expense and depreciation versus the prior year quarter.

Current quarter diluted earnings per common share from continuing operations was $8.68, a 25.6% decrease compared to $11.67 for the prior year quarter. Current quarter adjusted diluted earnings per common share from continuing operations (a non-GAAP measure) was $9.90, an 18.0% decrease compared to $12.07 for the prior year quarter.

Corporate Development

We remain focused on quickly and efficiently integrating our acquisitions into our existing operations to drive incremental value creation for our shareholders.

In July 2024, the Company acquired four Mercedes-Benz dealerships located in the U.K. This acquisition is expected to generate $105.0 million in annual revenues with new car sales recorded as net revenue under the agency model.

In August 2024, the Company completed the acquisition of Inchcape Retail automotive operations in the U.K. This acquisition is expected to generate $2.7 billion in annual revenues.

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.

Year-to-date, the Company has successfully acquired and is in the process of integrating dealership operations with total expected annual revenues of approximately $3.9 billion.

During the current quarter, the Company disposed of one dealership located in California. This disposed dealership generated approximately $65.0 million in annual revenues, bringing year-to-date total disposed annual revenues for the Company to $400.0 million.

Share Repurchases

During the current quarter, the Company repurchased 85,245 shares at an average price per common share of $349.55, for a total of $29.8 million, excluding excise taxes of $0.3 million.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2024, the Company repurchased 438,165 shares, representing approximately 3.2% of the Company's outstanding common shares at January 1 of the current year, at an average price per common share of $295.80, for a total of $129.6 million, excluding excise taxes of $1.1 million.

As of September 30, 2024, the Company had an aggregate 13.3 million outstanding common shares and unvested restricted stock awards. As of September 30, 2024, the Company had $174.8 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.

Third Quarter 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 third quarter 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 November 6, 2024, by dialing:

ABOUT GROUP 1 AUTOMOTIVE, INC.

Group 1 owns and operates 260 automotive dealerships, 338 franchises, and 44 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, (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 continued 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, snow-storm, and employment compensation costs associated with the CDK outage. 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.