(Alliance News) - Shares in Auto Trader Group PLC jumped on Thursday, as the company reported growth across all major metrics in its annual results.

Auto Trader is a Manchester, England-headquartered online marketplace for the sale of new and used cars. Shares were up 9.5% at 800.00 pence each in London on Thursday morning. They traded as high as 741.00p earlier Thursday. The wider FTSE 100 index was up just 0.1%.

For the financial year that ended March 31, Auto Trader reported GBP345.2 million in pretax profit, up 18% from GBP293.6 million in financial 2023.

Revenue rose 14% to GBP570.9 million from GBP500.2 million, with double-digit percentage growth reported across all business segments.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased 14% to GBP375.3 million from GBP328.0 million.

Basic earnings per share were up 13% to 28.15 pence from 25.01p a year prior.

With a proposed final dividend of 6.4p per share, up 14% from 5.6p a year before, Auto Trader increased its full-year dividend also by 14%, to 9.6p from 8.4p.

Chief Executive Officer Nathan Coe said: "This has been another year of strong financial, operational and strategic progress for Auto Trader. More than 8 in 10 car buyers now use Auto Trader during their car buying journey and two thirds of buyers only use Auto Trader. Our data and technology continue to underpin the UK automotive industry and we are constantly innovating to help our retailers access the very best tools to achieve their business goals."

Looking ahead, Auto Trader said that the new financial year had started well, and the company expects another year of growth in average revenue per retailer.

In financial 2024, average monthly revenue per retailer increased by 12% to GBP2,721 from GBP2,437.

The company expects losses in its Autorama business to be reduced further over the course of the year, having narrowed to GBP8.8 million from GBP11.2 million in financial 2024.

"We are confident in our prospects for the year ahead and, in the longer term, we see significant opportunities to continue growing our marketplace and to move more of the car buying process online, on Auto Trader," Coe added.

By Hugh Cameron, Alliance News reporter

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