Auto Trader swerves past Brexit

First-half group revenue registered a double-digit surge, driven by a 13 per cent increase in Average Revenue per Retailer Forecourt (ARPR) to £1,526 - in turn lifted by like-for-like price hikes across all customer segments early in the period. The average number of vehicle listings rose 3 per cent to 439,000, although the number of forecourt retailers edged down 1 per cent to 13,374 as smaller players chose to leave the market. Overall, retailer revenue rose 12 per cent to £123m. All this trickled down to leave pre-tax profit at £95.5m - well ahead of analysts' expectations.

Much noise has been made about the automotive sector since the EU vote, with investors increasingly concerned that a softening in the new car market would be exacerbated by a potential slump in consumer spending. But Auto Trader bosses say they have yet to notice any impact on the new and used car markets and, in their view, consumer confidence remains strong. Internally conducted research for September's Auto Trader Market Report revealed that for 89 per cent of consumers, the EU referendum result would have "no negative impact on their car buying intentions for the next six months".

Investors should also be cheered by Auto Trader's continued dominance of the online classified market. According to the company, its website has four times the number of visits than close competitor Gumtree, while cross-platform visits increased by 36 per cent year on year.

Analysts at Numis expect pre-tax profit of £195m for the year ending March 2017, giving EPS of 15.8p, compared with £157m and 12.8p in 2016.