EDMONTON -

AutoCanada Inc. announced 2012 fourth quarter and record annual financial results Wednesday, reporting growth in almost every segment of the business.

With revenue increasing 9.8 percent in Q4 of last year to rest at $262 million, the dealer group announced that the number of used vehicles retailed increased by 1.8 percent, coming in at 2,172 units sold.

And the used-vehicle revenue contributed to the company's performance, with the pre-owned segment making AutoCanada $57 million in Q4 of 2012.

Commenting on the financial results for the three month period ended Dec. 31, 2012, Pat Priestner, chief executive officer of AutoCanada, stated that, "The fourth quarter of 2012 was exceptionally strong with over $10 million in EBITDA. 

"Normally, we experience lower results in the first and fourth quarters of the fiscal year, but strong sales momentum from the third quarter of 2012 seemed to continue well into the fourth quarter.  We are of course very pleased with these results."

Moving on to highlight the full -ear results, in 2012, the company increased revenue by 9.4 percent or $94.6 million to $1.1 billion.

Used-car sales came in at 9,458, bringing in $683 million in revenue.

This marks a double-digit sales increase of 10.7 percent for used sales.

And revenue from existing and new dealerships increased 9.4 percent to $1.10 billion last year from the $1.01 billion that was generated by the company in 2011.

Commenting on the annual results, Priestner stated that, "The 2012 fiscal year was an excellent year to be an auto dealer in Canada.  With our company's double-digit growth in the number of new and used vehicles retailed, we achieved record sales and normalized earnings for the company in 2012.  We are particularly proud of the performance of our dealership teams, head office team and manufacturer partners, all of whom performed exceptionally well in 2012." 

Priestner also commented on how the addition of the General Motors and Kia brands to the company last year positively affected financial results

"We are very pleased to have added two new significant brands during the year.  The announcement of GM Canada's approval of our investment in three General Motors dealerships over the past year has increased our ability to grow and contribute to shareholder value," he said.

"The award of a Kia open point in our home market in Edmonton also presents a great opportunity for AutoCanada to grow its dealership base with another excellent brand.  With the recent increase in potential acquisition activity, the company is in a very good position to capitalize on this development over the next year and beyond."

Plans for New Growth

In the conference call held Wednesday to discuss the Q4 and annual results for 2012, the company said it is "cautiously optimistic" for 2013 acquisitions and plans to add four to five new dealerships to the group.

And later in the conference call, when asked about whether the company plans to pick up any new brands, Priestner said, "We are working hard with a number of manufacturers and hopefully this year we will pick up one new brand, this would be my best guess. We would be happy with that, and each year we keep moving along."

The CEO also touched on where the company’s focus will be when it comes to dealerships this year.

"We are more focused on the profitability of a dealership. You can buy a dealership in the city where there are nine of one brand, and each dealership may sell 700 to 900 cars, or you could go to a market like Duncan (Ontario), where it is the only dealership in that community. There used to be two GM stores; now there is only one. We have all the brands, and it might sell a few less cars, but it will be way more profitable," he said.

"I think you’ll see that the stores we are focusing on are pretty profitable stores," Priestner concluded.

To listen to the AutoCanada conference call click here.

Sarah Rubenoff can be reached at srubenoff@autoremarketing.com. Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing Canada on LinkedIn and Twitter.