Our marketplace sits at the

heart of the vehicle buying and selling process,

with the largest number of car buyers and

sellers, and the largest choice of trusted stock.

STRATEGIC HIGHLIGHTS

We continue to

execute against

our strategy

We aim to grow our core

marketplace, bring more of the car buying

journey online through digital retailing

and become the industry standard data

platform; whilst maintaining our commitment

with Auto Trader Connect

Auto Trader Connect

We launched Auto Trader Connect as part of

our April 2022 pricing event, which has gone

well. This gives customers access to our most

fundamental and powerful taxonomy data,

improving advert quality, pricing decisions

and enabling stock to be updated on

Auto Trader in real-time.

We continue to focus on supporting an

made good progress in developing both the

component parts which will form our end-to-

end deal builder journey and scaling some of

OUR STRATEGIC PILLARS

Data as a platform

OUR PURPOSEDRIVEN STRATEGY P12

2 Auto Trader Group plc Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022

pricing event

visits to Retailer Stores pages during 2022

before 2040

In June 2021, we signed up to the

Science Based Targets initiative

so we have committed to achieving

net zero before 2040 and will halve

carbon emissions before the end

Extension, a product that allows our retailers

to reach car buyers outside their local area.

a package above

Standard in March 2022

capabilities will transform Auto Trader’s

3

CHAIR’S STATEMENT

Context

COVID-19 remained a significant factor over

the last year in terms of the operational

conduct of our business. I am pleased

though to be able to report that its impact

is not obviously reflected in our business

performance, as it was in the previous

financial year.

imposition of sanctions. We have not

witnessed any clear negative impact on

vehicle buying and selling in the UK and

Ireland as a result of increased fuel prices,

but this cannot be ruled out in future.

The year of the used car

A notable aspect of the last 12 months

has been the way in which used cars and

the used car industry have become the

centre of attention in the automotive

With supply chain problems across the new

car industry and high levels of demand for

personal mobility as we emerged from

successive lockdowns, used car prices

have risen in real terms at rates we have

never seen before.

New car retailers have in very many cases

In addition, at the corporate level, most

of the new investment flowing into the

industry has been into national digital car

retailing businesses and those focused

on buying vehicles from the public. In

lockdowns, larger car retailers have been

increasingly focused on selling cars online

and to customers anywhere in the UK, not

just to customers able to visit the local

retailer where a car may physically be.

Auto Trader, without any evidence that these

business of advertising used cars.

Financial performance and strategic focus

Our revenues and profits for the financial

year 2022 were both at record highs. As we

enter the new financial year, the business

has good momentum with record uptake of

our products by vehicle retailers and, what

appears to be, an end for the moment to the

out our full range of services for car buyers

and retailers to enable cars marketed on

Auto Trader to also be sold online. For us,

the difference between marketing online

and selling online consists of being able to

reserve a car, secure approval for finance

for that car, get a guaranteed price at

which to trade-in an existing vehicle and to

enable a retailer to advertise that vehicle

outside their local area and beyond the

We believe we conform fully to the

Corporate Governance Code as well as

such as the Parker Review.

Prior to 2021 we addressed these topics

in our full Board meeting, supported

by governance from the Nomination

Committee. However, as environmental

concerns in particular have become

increasingly an area of focus, we have

to our practical efforts to reduce the

environmental impact of and increase

the sustainability of our business.

4 Auto Trader Group plc Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022

AN UNWAVERING COMMITMENT TO ALL ASPECTS OF ESG

In June 2021, Auto Trader signed up to the

Science Based Targets initiative Business

Ambition for 1.5ºC, which committed us to

is aiming to reach net zero ahead of this:

our near-term targets, which have been

validated, are to halve carbon emissions

before the end of 2030 and to achieve net

zero across our entire value chain by 2040.

Jasvinder is currently Managing Director

of Motor at Direct Line Group. She sits on

our Nomination, Audit, Remuneration and

Corporate Responsibility Committees.

There were no other changes to the Board.

Plans are well in hand to handle the

Dividend and capital return strategy

We are recommending to shareholders

a final dividend of 5.5 pence per share,

bringing the total dividend for the year to

8.2 pence per share. Having suspended

our dividend at the height of COVID-19,

we have now fully reinstated our capital

return strategy of investing in the business,

returning around a third of net income as

relating to the Autorama acquisition. It is

the long-term intention of the Board that

over time this debt will be repaid.

Our Annual General Meeting (‘AGM’) will

be held at 10.00am on 15 September at

26 May 2022

Used cars and

the used car industry

have become the

in the automotive

retailing industry,

having been

We are committed to achieving

net zero before 2040, as well as

reducing our emissions in line

with the Paris Agreement goals.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER’S STATEMENT

Overview

Early in the pandemic we acted decisively

to protect our people, customers, and our

business. As a result of these actions, we

have emerged as a stronger business which is

not only reflected in our very strong financial

results for the year, but also in the greater

relationships we now have with our customers.

a meaningful increase in the amount of time

car buyers have spent online, Auto Trader has

had a strong year. Revenue grew by 65% to

£432.7m (2021: £262.8m). The abnormally

high rate of growth principally reflects the

COVID-related discounts we gave to our

A better comparison is that of two years ago,

against which revenue grew by 17% (2020:

£368.9m), with a greater number of customers

consistent with the level achieved in 2020.

Our purpose and strategy

Our purpose is to Drive change together.

Responsibly. Which is at the core of our

business strategy. It is also integral to how

we think about supporting our customers,

our industry, our people, our local

We strive to be the best place to find, buy and

sell a car in the UK on a platform that enables

In April 2021, we successfully executed our

annual pricing event including the launch

of Retailer Stores, which offers retailers their

own dedicated, customisable location on

Auto Trader. This allows retailers to bring their

brand to life, driving consumer confidence and

standing out to buyers. As we build our digital

retailing capabilities, we envisage these

pages becoming an area that customers can

the sort order for listings. We have now

based on a relevancy algorithm. As part of

this change, we have discontinued our Basic

package, introduced a higher level and

re-branded our top three levels to Enhanced,

Super and Ultra. We have increased the

penetration of these higher yielding

packages with 31% of retailer stock on a

package above Standard in March 2022

(March 2021: 26%). Whilst the supply and

demand dynamics during the past six months

new car product has been robust despite

the challenges of sourcing stock due to the

shortage of semi-conductors. We ended the

year with over 1,800 retailers (2021: over 2,000)

paying to advertise new cars on our site.

With car buyers continuing to do more online,

our focus is to build an end-to-end deal builder

journey on Auto Trader, which leverages the

three individual components of guaranteed

applications, all of which have been trialled

opportunities for our business.

Having last year acquired AutoConvert, a

finance, insurance and compliance platform,

we have recently launched a small trial

on the forecourt. The trial is working with a

couple of lenders and if the buyer is not eligible

for the retailer’s first choice of lender, the

increases the complexity of the product and

onboarding, we believe it will ultimately result

in much greater take-up and engagement

from our customers, thereby giving us the best

chance of seamlessly bridging the offline and

online experiences.

We have also continued to evolve our trial for

vehicle reservations during the year, with the

and includes certain features offered by

MOT and service. In the year we have seen over

400 reservations convert into a successful

transaction, which give us good levels of

confidence as we evolve the proposition to be

incorporated into our full deal builder journey.

improved our offering for consumers who

want to conveniently sell their car for cash

through our Instant Offer product, which

Auto Trader, eliminating either the need to

haggle over a part-exchange or look for other

disposal routes for their current vehicle. Over

the past 12 months, we have provided c.1.2

over 10,000 vehicles on Instant Offer, through

our partner Cox Automotive.

During the year we launched a new product,

Market Extension, that allows customers to

sell vehicles outside their local area. This

digital retailing product enables customers to

6 Auto Trader Group plc Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022

THE PILLARS OF OUR STRATEGY

on further embedding our data into the

industry, giving consumers, retailers,

We are also continuing to evolve our logistics

of vehicle moves direct to consumers. Over the

year, our platform facilitated c.122,000 (2021:

c.98,000) moves of which c.15% were delivered

directly to the consumer.

help meet the demands of the growing number

of consumers who might consider leasing their

next new vehicle, while providing an efficient

and professional channel to market for

manufacturers and leasing companies. In time,

brand to accelerate its recent expansion,

beyond light commercial vehicles, into new

cars. There is a significant structural

opportunity for a new car leasing marketplace

driven by the growth of electric cars, new

lower take up of company car schemes and

a shift towards new digital distribution

models. Leasing provides consumers with

a cost-effective way to access a new car

Our people

Our people have continued to show resilience

and determination through what has been

another very unsettled year. As we have been

able to open our offices properly once again,

it’s been brilliant to see how people have

come back together to collaborate and

about what the next year will bring.

I would like to thank our people, our customers

and our wider stakeholders for their continued

trust in our business. We have tried to do the

right thing by everyone, such that working with

or for Auto Trader feels like a partnership.

The new financial year has started well.

In April this year, we successfully executed

our annual pricing event which included the

launch of our Auto Trader Connect product.

We are anticipating another good year of

ARPR growth, underpinned by our product

lever. We expect growth in the product lever

We expect the price lever to be broadly

consistent with last year, and the stock lever

to be flat. We anticipate average retailer

forecourts to be marginally down year-on-

year, as market conditions start to toughen.

Consumer Services is expected to increase

at a rate of low-mid single digits year-on-

year-on-year at 70%. This outlook does not

include the acquisition of Autorama, which

will be provided upon completion. The

completion date is not yet known as not all

regulatory approvals have been received.

Despite growing economic uncertainty, the

Board is confident of meeting its growth

expectations for the year.

Nathan Coe

Chief Executive Officer

26 May 2022

Car buying

services

Consumers

Fleet

(lease & rental

companies)

Retailers

Leasing

broker

Ex PCP

Defleet

New cars

New & used car sales

Part exchanges

Tech providers Vehicle logistics

Supported by:

OEM &

captives

Instant

tomorrow’s car market

The ecosystem we operate in

The automotive market is complex and often inefficient. There are multiple

participants and unsurprisingly consumers can find the process of buying

or selling a car overwhelming.

Through Auto Trader products, services and partnerships, we aim to

significantly improve the car buying experience, as well as leverage

our existing relationships to improve more of the value chain.

4%, were still 22% below 2020

seen in the remainder of the year

the production of new cars.

+4% year on year

as new technology as well as

more choice is supported by

consumers being more conscious

forward the ban on the sale of

petrol and diesel cars to 2030.

15% to 7.5m in the 12 months to March

and a lower volume of cars being

7. 5 m

+15% year on year

8 Auto Trader Group plc Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022