INTERVIEW
Sytner boss talks furlough, CarShop growth and his thoughts on Cazoo and Cinch In an exclusive and wide-ranging chat at the company’s flagship Jaguar Land Rover site, chief executive Darren Edwards tells James Baggott how the US-owned dealer group has flourished and could well be on course for a record year.
SYTNER GROUP LIMITED Position: 2019 turnover: 2019 EBITDA: ROS:
2 £5.9bn £152m 1.3%
Click here to see the Car Dealer Top 100 list 06 | CarDealerMag.co.uk
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ytner boss Darren Edwards has given an exclusive video interview to Car Dealer. In the Car Dealer Live special, the boss of the second most profitable dealer group in the UK – according to the Car Dealer Top 100 – reveals his secrets to success. In a wide-ranging interview, recorded at the group’s showcase Jaguar Land Rover site in Sunbury, Edwards gives his thoughts on a variety of topics. With a portfolio of luxury and premium new car brands, and a high-performing used car supermarket group, it’s little wonder it’s one of the UK’s most profitable groups. Sytner came second in our Car Dealer Top 100 list of most profitable dealers – in 2019 it made £152m EBITDA profit on turnover of nearly £6bn. Edwards told Car Dealer he was disappointed with the second-place position and hopes to top our list in the future. But how do they do it? ‘Our strategy has always been to focus on premium brands,’ reveals Edwards. ‘We figure you can get better return on investment, you can attract a higher quality of people for the team and we invest a lot to attract them. ‘We have very low staff attrition levels. Our head of business turnover is less than five per cent, the board is zero turnover and has been for many years, and our managers are about eight per cent. ‘By having these great brands, it gives us the opportunity to make great returns for our shareholders, do a brilliant job for our manufacturers and then you have this circle of investment: Focus on people, focus on customers and delight your manufacturers and shareholders, and keep on doing that all the time. ‘By doing that since 1968 when we first started and really the early 2000s when we started to grow, that’s given us the opportunity to continue to grow as we have.’ Sytner has a chocolate box of brands that most dealers would envy. In the high-end luxury world, it represents Ferrari, McLaren, Bentley, Bugatti, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Maserati, Rolls-Royce and Porsche. Sytner is also Audi’s biggest partner in the UK and represents Jaguar Land Rover, BMW, Mercedes, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen among others. ‘Return at the moment is really, really strong and the partnerships with our brands are incredible,’ said Edwards. He says the group learnt a lot during the pandemic and was quick to offer customers the chance to buy cars on its website. It introduced an online buying function last year, and the combination of sales in store and on its website has helped it continue to record impressive results. Sales of new cars rose nearly eight per cent in the first quarter of the year, despite showrooms being closed by the third lockdown. Sytner is owned by American giant Penske Automotive Group, which snapped the dealer off the stock market in 2002.
