Auto Trader Group (LON:AUTO) reported broadly flat first-half revenue from its core activities and maintained its full-year profit outlook, as retailer numbers recovered following disruption associated with the rollout of its Deal Builder product.
The U.K. automotive marketplace said revenue excluding vehicle and accessory sales was £301.8 million for the six months ended Sept. 30, 2026, compared with £301.2 million a year earlier. Group operating profit fell 1% to £198.5 million, while basic earnings per share rose 5% to 18.1 pence, supported by share buybacks.
Chief Financial Officer Jamie Warner said first-half trading was in line with expectations. Auto Trader maintained its forecast for full-year group operating profit of £395 million to £415 million, with revenue growth expected to accelerate in the second half.
Retailer numbers recover
Auto Trader said its first-half performance reflected a lower starting point after some retailers left the platform or moderated spending following feedback on the speed and scale of the Deal Builder rollout in late 2025. Comparisons were also tougher following the conversion of a stock offer in June 2025.
Retailer forecourts advertising on the platform rose to 13,900 at the end of September from 13,600 at the end of March. The first-half average was 13,762, down 2% from a year earlier. Warner said the company had re-signed two-thirds of the retailers that left during the challenging period from November 2025 to January 2026 and were still trading.
Average monthly revenue per retailer increased 1% to £3,037. Pricing contributed £117 to growth, while lower stock reduced the measure by £89. Warner said he expected the stock headwind to improve in the second half, while package changes introduced by the end of September should encourage product upgrades.
Retailer revenue fell 1% to £250.8 million. Consumer services revenue rose 9% to £22.9 million, while manufacturer and agency revenue increased 18% to £8.5 million, supported by campaigns from new entrant brands seeking U.K. market share.
AI strategy targets buyers and retailers
Auto Trader outlined plans to develop its marketplace into an AI-powered platform under the name Autotrader Intelligence. Management said the strategy would build on existing activities, including advertising packages and Deal Builder, rather than replace them.
The company plans to use its vehicle data and AI models to support more conversational searches for car buyers and to develop tools for retailers covering tasks such as inventory management, pricing and lead handling. It also wants to build a new-car deals comparison experience for manufacturers and consumers.
Management said some AI capabilities are already in use. Auto Trader’s advert creation tools have reduced the time needed to create an advert from 28 minutes to five minutes, while its coding agent has completed more than 20,000 autonomous engineering jobs since launching in March, the company said.
Warner said the company saw an opportunity to sell some new products separately, but did not provide a revenue target for the AI strategy. Management said it did not expect the investment to threaten Auto Trader’s existing margin profile.
The company has made inventory available through selected integrations with AI assistants, but management said it would not open its full inventory indiscriminately. It plans to assess which services to expose as it observes how consumers use them.
Deal Builder adoption and audience trends
Approximately 9,300 retailers were active on Deal Builder, more than double the 4,000 a year earlier, and Auto Trader said it remained on track to have all customers on the product by the end of the financial year. Management said deals submitted through Deal Builder convert to sales at twice the rate of traditional leads.
Warner said a full reservation through the product accounted for roughly 10% of a dealer’s sales influence, while broader interactions with the deal tools represented a larger share of leads.
Auto Trader said consumers spent 12 times more time on its platform than on its nearest marketplace competitor, measured as a combination of four automotive marketplaces. However, the company reported softer time spent and monthly visits during the first half, particularly in June and July. Warner said the company’s measure of sales influence had increased slightly.
Cash returns and outlook
Cash generated from operations was £215.3 million. Auto Trader returned £330.2 million to shareholders during the half, including £269.6 million through buybacks and £60.6 million in dividends. It proposed an interim dividend of 4.2 pence per share, up 11% year over year.
The company still expects to complete approximately £500 million of share buybacks in fiscal 2027. Gross bank debt stood at £335 million at Sept. 30, with leverage at 0.8 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization.
Auto Trader lowered its full-year expectation for vehicle and accessory sales to £25 million from £40 million as it focuses more on acting as an intermediary. Warner said the change would have no impact on profit because those sales carry an offsetting cost of goods sold.
About Auto Trader Group (LON:AUTO)
Autotrader Group plc is the UK’s largest automotive marketplace and a leading digital platform for the automotive industry. Listed on the London Stock Exchange since March 2015, the company is a member of the FTSE 100 Index.
Autotrader’s purpose is Driving Change Together. Responsibly. The company uses advanced data science, artificial intelligence and scalable technology to improve how vehicles are bought and sold, while building stronger partnerships with its customers and the wider automotive ecosystem.
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