EDMONTON -

While it was a tough close to the first quarter and rough start to the second, AutoCanada’s retail used-vehicle sales in Canada made significant improvement in May before a major spike in June.

A graph included in the retailer’s earnings release that details year-over-year change in Canadian retail vehicle unit sales shows that used sales for AutoCanada were up 16% for the first two months of the year.

And for the first 15 days of March, they were up 4%. In the back half of March, used retail sales fell 44%.

April’s retail used sales were down 39%. However, that gap closed to 2% for May, and then used retail sales jumped 46% in June for AutoCanada.

Looking at the highlights of the Canadian operation for AutoCanada in the second quarter, the used-to-new retail unit ratio was at 1.00, compared to 0.73 in Q2 2019.

It was also the second straight quarter AutoCanada had a used-to-new ratio of 1.0 or higher, the company said.

AutoCanada also had a 0.7% uptick in same-store used retail sales for the quarter in Canada.

Next up, looking at consolidated operational data, AutoCanada moved 7,228 total used retail units in the second quarter (6,535 in Canada, 693 in the U.S.), down from 7,249 in Q2 of 2019.

It moved 6,123 same-store used retail units, compared to 6,080 a year earlier.

Offering some overall commentary on the quarter, AutoCanada executive chairman Paul Antony said: “AutoCanada achieved a number of significant milestones in the second quarter, advancing our strategic priorities and continuing to execute on our Go Forward Plan while substantially strengthening our balance sheet, reducing net debt and increasing free cash flow in spite of COVID-19.

“Very early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, we took decisive actions, implementing a range of measures in response to the crisis that have enhanced our resiliency and positioned the company for industry-leading performance that will drive growth and competitive differentiation going forward.  Our cost-reduction measures have resulted in structural cost savings of approximately $10 million,” he said.

“I'm extremely proud of our people, who have worked hard and delivered excellent performance, continuing to prove our complete business model under challenging conditions. We remain confident that AutoCanada's resilient business model, transformed platform and strengthened balance sheet position us to emerge from this period even stronger and with momentum.”