Asbury Automotive Group Inc. generated record net income in the first quarter that was fueled by its 2021 acquisitions and higher profits in all dealership business lines.
Asbury on Thursday reported first-quarter net income of $237.7 million, more than 2.5 times the $92.8 million it produced a year earlier. Asbury reported first-quarter revenue of $3.91 billion, up 78 percent. On a same-store basis, revenue rose 5 percent to $2.28 billion.
Shares in Asbury surged 10.5 percen to $174.79 in afternoon trading on Thursday.
The results were buoyed by a slew of new locations. Asbury added a net $5.8 billion in annual revenue through those 2021 acquisitions, most of which closed during the final months of last year. Asbury’s biggest deal was its December purchase of Larry H. Miller Dealerships and its finance and insurance products provider Total Care Auto.
“We see tremendous opportunity ahead of us as we roll out [digital retailing platform] Clicklane to our acquired dealerships and integrate Total Care Auto … into the legacy Asbury stores,” Asbury CEO David Hult said in a statement. “We expect these actions, along with a more optimized dealership portfolio, will allow Asbury to expand its market share, increase productivity and improve the purchasing, servicing and ownership experience of our guests.”
Asbury on Thursday also announced a new growth target of $32 billion of revenue for 2025. That marked a 60 percent increase from its previous goal for 2025 of $20 billion in revenue, which had been set in December 2020.
“Our first-quarter results reaffirm our belief that we can achieve our updated 2025 plan,” Hult said in Asbury’s statement.
Q1 revenue: $3.91 billion, up 78 percent from a year earlier
Q1 net income: $237.7 million, up 156 percent from a year earlier
Q1 adjusted net income: $212.2 million, up 134 percent from a year earlier
Q1 vehicle sales: 39,174 new vehicles, up 44 percent from a year earlier; 38,306 used vehicles, up 63 percent from a year earlier
Q1 same-store vehicle sales: 21,651 new vehicles, down 20 percent from a year earlier; 24,597 used vehicles, up 6 percent from a year earlier
Records: Net income; adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $335.7 million, up 139 percent from a year earlier
Ranking: Asbury, of Duluth, Ga., ranks No. 5 on Automotive News‘ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., with retail sales of 109,910 new vehicles in 2021.
