Growing order book fuels robust results at vehicle leasing company
Vehicle leasing business, Zenith, has reported strong growth and profitability as it publishes its inaugural quarterly results since the issuance of its £475m green bond in January 2022.
During the third quarter (1 October – 31 December 2021) Zenith’s total fleet size grew by 6,600 to 158,000.
Turnover for the first nine months of the financial year was up £65.4m to £402.6m. EBITDA grew by £1.4m in quarter three to £17.9m, bringing total EBITDA for the first nine months to £57.2m, up £14.5m on the prior period.
While constraints to the supply of new vehicles continued, principally due to the ongoing shortage of semiconductors, Zenith says it has witnessed very strong demand with three consecutive quarters of record order take.
Its order book for new cars in its Corporate division grew substantially, from 8,600 at the end of September, to 10,900 at December 31st 2021, then again to 12,100 at February 28th, 2022, more than double the figure at the same point in the prior year.
Zenith’s consumer retail business, ZenAuto, has also grown its order book to more than 1,000 vehicles for the first time.
Over half of Zenith’s corporate order book is now for battery electric vehicles (BEVs).
Zenith adds it has also decided to repay the UK Government the £0.9m it had received during the COVID pandemic to cover employee furlough payments. The money will be repaid over the next few weeks.
Tim Buchan, chief executive officer, said: “Our quarter three results demonstrate the ongoing strength and resilience of the Zenith Group.
“While the global slowdown in new car production has continued, the nature of our business mix means we are able to offset this through generating value from our existing fleet of vehicles.
“I am encouraged to see that the high levels of demand for electric vehicles have shown no signs of fading and that, across our entire order book, more than half of orders are for BEVs.
“Zenith’s performance has remained strong throughout the pandemic, and with the Group in such good financial condition, we were pleased to be able to return all of the furlough funding that we had received from the Government.”
