(News Bulletin 247) – The specialist in the online sale of used cars is raising its annual targets, after a clear increase in its growth and profitability over its first half ending at the end of March.

For budgetary reasons or for ecological considerations, more and more households are turning to used vehicles, a market which, in terms of volume, can represent three to four times that of new vehicles. This strong consumer interest in second-hand vehicles benefited Aramis Group over the past half-year ending at the end of March. Between October 2023 and March 2024, the Val-de-Marne group (based in Arcueil) noted a clear improvement in its accounts.

The used car specialist’s overall revenues exceeded one billion euros, at 1.098 billion euros, up 16.7% on a like-for-like basis compared to the first half of the 2022 financial year. 2023.

In detail, the turnover of reconditioned cars is up 7.4% compared to the first half of 2023, at 731.4 million euros. The group benefited from a volume effect since the number of reconditioned vehicles increased by 9.8%, supported by an “increase in the supply of “pre-registered” vehicles (also called “zero kilometer vehicles”, automobiles almost new, with a mileage of less than 50 km, having only been driven for logistical reasons) which had an impact on sales of older reconditioned vehicles. On the other hand, prices are down 2.2% over one year.

“The best of both worlds”

“A reconditioned vehicle is a bit like the best of both worlds. It’s reliable like a new car and it’s affordable like a used car. It’s a vehicle that has undergone an entire industrial process,” Guillaume Paoli, co-founder and co-president of Aramis Group, told franceinfo.

“The reconditioned vehicle will cost a little more than a traditional used vehicle, but it offers unparalleled guarantees,” he continues.

As for sales of pre-registered cars, they soared by 128.3% to 233.4 million euros.

Aramis Group indicates that it is doing much better in the market for used vehicles less than 8 years old with an “outperformance of 24 basis points (0.24 percentage points)”, in the countries where the group operates (France, Spain, Belgium and the United Kingdom) over the same period.

If we look at the target audience, the sales activity to individuals, which represents 88% of turnover, recorded an increase of 23.2% over one year to 964.9 million euros.

The B2B segment, i.e. sales to professional customers, which represents 6.9% of revenues, plunged by 27.3% to 76.4 million euros. Finally, services (5.1% of turnover), including financing solutions, recorded an increase of 10.9% over one year to 57 million euros.

A little further down in the accounts, the gross operating surplus (Ebitda) of Aramis Group jumped significantly to reach 16.2 million euros at the end of March, compared to 1 million euros last year.

Aramis Group recalls having, from the first half of 2024, almost doubled the amount of adjusted Ebitda generated over its entire 2023 financial year, i.e. 9.6 million euros at the end of September 2023. In terms of net income, the group recorded a loss of 13.3 million euros at the end of March, a slight increase of 5.5% compared to the 12.6 million euros in losses recorded a year earlier.

Objectives met

In addition to this dynamism in Aramis Group’s business performance, investors welcome the outlook communicated by the group for its entire 2023-2024 financial year. The used car specialist has raised its targets to the end of September 2024. Aramis Group hopes to sell, on a like-for-like basis, more than 110,000 reconditioned vehicles to its individual customers, or at least 10,000 more than its previous forecast of 100,000. vehicles.

Above all, the group is significantly revising its adjusted Ebitda target upwards. This indicator is expected at a level “higher” than 32 million euros, compared to a previous forecast “higher than 19 million euros”.

The company’s confidence is underpinned by a rebound in the used vehicle market, which began a rebound in the first half of 2024 in most European regions. For the current half-year, Aramis Group is banking on an “progression in volumes [qui] should remain high” and intends to maintain “rigorous discipline” in cost and inventory management.

On the Paris Stock Exchange, the half-yearly publication as well as the prospects of Aramis Group are appreciated by operators. The group, which records significant volatility on the stock market with each of its publications, saw its stock jump 10.4% to 4.575 euros this Tuesday around 11:30 a.m. It returns to its end-of-year 2023 levels, but still loses 80% compared to the price of 23 euros used for its IPO in June 2021.