Sales at the UK arm of car making giant Toyota jumped by almost £600m to pass £3.5bn during its latest financial year despite a drop in market share.
The Surrey-headquartered company’s revenue for the year to 31 March, 2024, increased from £2.9bn to £3.5bn, according to newly-filed accounts with Companies House.
The UK market share held by Toyota and Lexus in the 2023 calendar year dipped by 0.1 per cent to 6.5 per cent.
The new results also show that its pre-tax profit dipped from £17.8m to £11.5m in the year.
The group’s UK turnover increased rom £2.8bn to £3.4bn in the financial year while it also rose from £25.2m to £26.1m in Europe. However, it dipped from £7.9m to £4.3m in the rest of the world.
Toyota’s financial position ‘partly recovers’
A statement signed off by the board said: “The company’s overall financial position partly recovered from last year’s actuarial losses on the pension scheme caused by the turmoil in the financial markets, with net actuarial gains of £6.7m, in addition to the profit for the year of £6.9m.
“The company’s working capital position was maintained, with an increased level of stock, due to an increased choice of powertrains (EV and PHEV) vehicles as well as new models (Lexus and LBX), offset by [an] increase in the related intercompany borrowings.”
On its future, Toyota added: “We consider there will be a marginal increase in the overall automotive market compared to 2023 levels, although this may be impacted by current economic conditions and also the ZEV mandate requirements relative to market demand.
“The company expects to continue to explore different routes to market, from the expansion of its online retail offering to supporting different mobility solutions through the wider group’s Kinto brand.”
Toyota’s Kinto brand, which is based in Portsmouth, is due to file its accounts for the same financial year by the end of 2024.
Record profit for parent company
The latest set of results come after Toyota’s financial services arm posted a total revenue of £941.7m for the 12 months to March 31, 2024, according to documents with Companies House.
The total compares to a revenue of £573m it posted for the prior year.
Toyota’s revenue was boosted by its income from interest payments surging from £446.7m to £706.2m while earnings from fees and commissions rose from £47.3m to £60.7m.
However the accounts also show that Toyota’s pre-tax profit was slashed from £258.1m to £148.8m over the same period.
The company said that was because market interest rates fell during the year as “expectations of future rate cuts prevailed” as well as the maturity of old hedges at more favourable rates.
In May, Toyota’s parent company revealed it had achieved a record annual net profit of more than 4.94 trillion yen (£24.4bn), doubling from the year before.
For the year ending March 31, 2024, the group’s revenue also surged by 21.4 per cent to another record, 45.1 trillion yen (£222.8bn).