Bid Auto

 

Highlights

  In a severe downturn, strength of core McCarthy brand comes through  
  Consolidated McCarthy Fleet Solutions unit emerges as top profit contributor  
  Our position as South Africa’s only national used-vehicle brand helps drive record
used-vehicle business		  
  Positioning success as the trusted time-critical print partner of sports event organisers  
  Burchmores, the country’s leading car auctioneer, performs strongly  
  Inventory cut by R400 million as rightsizing gathers pace  
  Service business and parts sales increase strongly  
  Consumers embrace our online showroom and search engine  
  Materials handling division added to heavy equipment business  
  We remain the industry’s training leader  


    Brand Pretorius, chief executive
 

  Financial indicators
(for the year ended June 30) 		 2009  
R'm  		 2008  
R'm  		 %  
change  
  Revenue   16 464,3   18 467,5   (10,8) 
  Trading profit   502,9   743,0   (32,3) 
  Operating profit   431,3   791,3   (45,5) 
  Operating assets   5 605,6   6 016,8   (6,8) 
  Operating liabilities   2 056,1   2 390,6   (14,0) 
  Depreciation   307,9   279,2   10,3  
  Amortisation and impairments of intangible assets   –   29,2   (100,0) 
  Goodwill and intangible assets   238,1   238,1   –  
         
         
  Sustainable development indicator overview   2009   2008   2007  
  Employees   6 942   7 621   7 435  
  Total training spend (R’000)  57 801   29 222   18 543  
  Training spend per employee (R)  8 326   3 834   2 494  
  Employees attending HIV/Aids training (%)  43,5   65,6   44,1  
  Lost time injury frequency rate   1,82   *   *  
  Work-related fatalities (number)  0   0   0  
  BEE procurement (R’000)  5 664 710   1 085 040   322 855  
  CSI spend (R’000)  3 255   3 386   2 997  
  Enterprise development spend (R’000)  2 982   459   *  
  Total water usage (litres ’000)  205 607   613 560   649 723  
  Total electricity usage (kWh ’000)  79 695   43 522   36 125  
  Petrol (litres)  6 132 518   5 537 662   4 890 920  
  Diesel (litres)  2 053 864   *   *  
  Total carbon emissions (tonnes)  100 812   56 643   *  
  Carbon emissions per employee (tonnes)  14,5   7,4   *  
*Information not collated, not relevant or not entirely reliable
The prior year numbers include subsidiaries that are now part of Bidvest Namibia. The numbers have not been restated as the impact is not significant

 

Strategic positioning

In a challenging market, the role of Bid Auto as the “value leader you can trust” came into greater focus. “Quality at a price you can afford” became a key marketing proposition and created competitive advantage in a contracting market as buyers moved from new to used vehicles and to a tighter focus on tried and trusted marques.

Sustainable development

About 420 employees were affected by retrenchments. Fortunately, 125 were redeployed. We acted to minimise the social impact of restructuring. Adjustments were achieved without industrial action. Employee satisfaction improved to 73%. The customer satisfaction index also moved higher, up to 85% among used-vehicle buyers.

Our automotive artisan academies delivered 16 000 training days; 10 600 internally, the balance to customers. Black students accounted for 75% of student days.

McCarthy participated in the Labour Department’s new accelerated artisan training programme, engaging 52 trainees. We remain the industry’s training leader (290 of our learners achieved NQF certification).

Black middle management representation reached 25% versus the 20% target, while the senior management level rose from 2% to 4% and top management maintained the 14% target level.

The Stars of Africa (a NUMSA partnership) continued its training of informal mechanics and CSI spend rose 8% to R4,3 million as we made up for partners who were unable to maintain their support for our flagship Rally to Read programme. Staff also made big contributions.

Former employees took ownership of 21 parts delivery vehicles, driving continued enterprise development. Spending with BBBEE-compliant suppliers reached 15% of total spend.

HIV/Aids awareness and prevention campaigns continued. Additional sustainability information is available on the Bidvest website.

QUICK LINK

 

Performance

Extremely tough motor industry trading conditions resulted in a decline in trading profit of 32,3% to R502,9 million (2008: R743,0 million) while revenue declined from R18,5 billion to R16,5 billion.

Cash flow, though at a lower level, was assured by rigorous working capital management and early action to reduce inventory in line with lower levels of sales activity.

Benchmarks

Benchmarking is precise as performance and efficiency are compared to norms in numerous categories based on local and international industry experience. Measurement is constant – by franchise, dealership and department. Processes are transparent as vehicle manufacturers share data in the South African market.

Benchmarking is linked to incentivisation. Manufacturers incentivise high levels of performance. Operations have to achieve a hurdle rate to qualify for these variable incentives. Our McCarthy franchises are consistently among South Africa’s highest bonus earners, indicating that they perform exceptionally well in an environment renowned for precise measurement.

In addition to benchmarking via principals, all Bid Auto businesses and departments set their own targets.

Savings, efficiencies and productivity are measured as well as profit and returns. Though performance against Bid Auto’s budgeted profit was disappointing and new vehicle sale results were often disheartening, creditable gains were seen in areas such as expense management, parts and service contribution and used vehicle sales.