Manchester-headquarted Auto Trader has reported a rise in profit thanks to stronger-than-expected revenue growth from retailers.
For the six months up to September 30th 2019, pre-tax profit at the digital automotive marketplace rose 12% to £127.7m as revenue to £186.7m.
The average revenue per retailer (ARPR) per month was up 7% to £1,951 with growth from product and price offsetting a small decline in paid retailer stock, Autotrader said.
The company said it was ‘confident’ of meeting its growth expectations for the year. An interim dividend of 2.4p a share was declared, up from 2.1p a share on-year.
Auto Trader announced in June that it expected another strong year of growth in 2019, after seeing its revenue rise by 8% (£355.1m) and profits increase by 10% to £243.7m in their full-year results.
The Manchester-based online car marketplace has invested in its core platform and infrastructure, including a new public cloud-based solution to improve its security, resilience and speed when it comes to releasing software.