Motorpoint flags 81% jump in first-half profit, holds full-year guidance
Motorpoint expects first-half underlying pre-tax profit of about £6.5m, up 81%, on higher used-car volumes and what it calls record metal margins. It has left full-year guidance unchanged, in line with recently upgraded forecasts.
Motorpoint (LSE: MOTR) expects underlying pre-tax profit of about £6.5m for the six months to 30 September 2026, up 81% from £3.6m in the first half last year. The used-car retailer, which runs 22 sales and collection stores, said in a trading update at 7am today.
Retail volumes rose 7.6% against the first half of the last financial year. The company said that showed outperformance against the wider used car market, helped by a new Leeds store that opened in early July. Momentum from the September trading update continued through the rest of September.
Motorpoint also sells through Motorpoint.co.uk and runs a wholesale platform, Auction4Cars.com. It said its platform supports pricing, vehicle acquisition, demand generation and allocation, and has helped deliver “market share outperformance and record metal margins”. Those gains, with cost control, “more than offset the impact of high interest rates and inflation”. The figures are based on management information.
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Motorpoint’s first-half underlying pre-tax profit, £ million. The 2026 figure is the company’s expected outcome. Source: company trading update, 9 October 2026.
Return on capital employed (ROCE), which measures profit against the capital a business uses, is expected to be about 80% over the last 12 months, up from 59% in the preceding period. The company credits its capital-light model.
“Motorpoint has delivered another strong period of volume and profit growth. This is despite a backdrop of consumer uncertainty fuelled by inflation, high interest rates and the impending Government budget.”
Mark Carpenter, chief executive of Motorpoint
The board remains confident in the outlook and continues to expect full-year (FY27) underlying pre-tax profit of £9.8m-£10.8m. That is in line with recently upgraded consensus, and it implies £3.3m-£4.3m for the second half.
The next test is the interim results on Wednesday the 11th of November.
The AskTraders Analyst Team features experts in technical and fundamental analysis, as well as traders specializing in stocks, forex, and cryptocurrency.
