Strong used vehicle residuals in the New Zealand, Australian and United Kingdom markets have boosted profits for listed vehicle leasing and management company SG Fleet Group.
SG Fleet says high customer demand for new vehicles in all three markets coupled with supply chain restraint has created a strong forward order bank to be carried into the new financial year.
It has also created exceptional residual values of used vehicles boosting end of lease income.
SG Fleet has also completed the acquisition of the LeasePlan business in Australia and New Zealand as of September 1.
For financial year 2021 (FY21) SG Fleet reported a net profit after tax (NPAT) of $43.7 million. Underlying NPAT, which excludes $8.9 million in costs related to the LeasePlan acquisition, was $51.6 million, up 41.8% on FY20.
Total net revenue for the full financial year was $198.2 million, up 15.0% on the previous year.
SG Fleet chief executive Robbie Blau says the businesses in Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand continued to perform strongly in the second half of the financial year, while activity levels in the Australian novated segments improved significantly.
“The value of used vehicles remained at exceptional levels in all three countries, boosting our end of lease income. As a consequence of the delivery challenges we faced, the order pipeline at year-end almost doubled on the previous year, which means a significant number of orders will spill into the current financial year,” Blau says.
“Supply disruption is unlikely to see much improvement during this half, with global manufacturing levels taking some time to recover, and we expect second-hand vehicle values to normalise gradually,” he says.
