NPM portfolio company Stern Groep N.V., the exchange-listed Dutch market leader in automotive retail and service, has disclosed its results for 2017. The group’s net revenue increased slightly, reaching €1,124.7 million (versus €1,097.6 million in 2016). Gross EBITDA fell to €69.5 million (2016: €75.1 million), resulting in an after-tax profit of €7.5 million (2016: €11.3 million). The profit includes overall non-recurring income of €1.3 million (2016: €2.2 million).
After two relatively good years, 2017 closed with a lower but once again clearly positive result. The market share of new passenger cars increased to 5.9% (2016: 5.7%), while the lease portfolio grew organically by 9.1% to 11,022 contracts at year-end 2017 (nationwide: 8.7%).
The number of vehicles managed by Lease also increased, to 14,217 (2016: 13,149). Only the market share for new commercial vehicles showed a downward trend, falling to 7.6% from 2016’s 8.1%.
Stern CEO Henk van der Kwast states that although the car market recovered to virtually the traditional replacement level in 2017, margins were subject to heavy pressure, especially for Dealergroup Stern. ‘This was due among other things to the strong increase in private lease, which has increased the market strength of lease companies, and intense competition in the used-car market. These developments clearly show that our strategy of increasing our focus on financial mobility products and car services is the right choice,’ Van der Kwast says.
Transformation
Over a 25-year period, Stern has evolved from an Opel dealer in Amsterdam to one of the largest automotive groups in the Netherlands. In order to boost its transformation from a large car dealer holding to a modern mobility group in 2018, a number of improvement and renewal projects have been launched under the name Fast Forward. The company’s digital transformation forms an important part of this strategic plan.
