AUTO1 posts record adjusted earnings of 75.6 million euros in third quarter
Key Facts
AUTO1 Group said adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization reached 75.6 million euros in the third quarter of 2026, up 45.7% year on year and its highest quarterly level. Chief Executive Christian Bertermann said the quarter was "the most profitable in AUTO1's history," with double-digit growth in units sold and record gross profit per car, adjusted earnings and adjusted margin. The result came as cars sold rose to 242,817, up 11.1% year on year. Revenue increased to 2,345.6 million euros, a gain of 10.4%. The profitability figures show adjusted earnings growth outpaced increases in units and revenue during the period.
Gross profit rose to 298.0 million euros, up 15.7% from the same quarter a year earlier, while gross profit per car climbed to 1,234 euros, an increase of 4.9%. The gap between gross profit growth and unit growth points to improved gross returns on sales volume, while profit per car grew less than overall gross profit. Bertermann said the new trading system had been implemented in both the Merchant and Retail segments, lifting gross profit per car while keeping costs under control. The company attributed the increase in adjusted earnings mainly to higher gross profit, which offset rising personnel and marketing costs. It identified this as the driver that translated sales growth into higher profitability in the quarter.
In the Merchant segment, its dealer-facing business, units sold rose to 211,461 cars, up 10.3% year on year, and revenue grew 7.7% to 1,784.6 million euros. Segment gross profit advanced faster, rising 14.8% to 212.5 million euros. Its Autohero retail business sold 31,356 cars, up 16.2%, and reported revenue of 561.0 million euros, an increase of 19.8%. Autohero gross profit rose 18.0% to 85.5 million euros. Retail therefore grew faster than the dealer business in units and revenue, while the Merchant segment generated greater gross profit in absolute terms during the quarter.
A comparison of the two segments shows that both contributed to the increase in gross profit, which grew 14.8% in Merchant and 18.0% in Autohero. At the same time, gross profit growth in each outpaced the increase in units sold: 10.3% versus 14.8% at Merchant, and 16.2% versus 18.0% at Autohero. This is consistent with management's explanation of the quarter's performance, linking the improvement in profit per car to the new trading system rolled out across both businesses. The company also said cost control helped absorb higher personnel and marketing costs, as increased gross profit offset their impact on adjusted earnings. It did not specify the contribution of each factor separately.
In the second quarter of 2026, the group reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 58.6 million euros, up 38.4% year on year. Adjusted margin then stood at 2.4%, 30 basis points above its level a year earlier. That earlier performance provides context for the acceleration in profitability in the third quarter, when the company recorded its highest quarterly adjusted earnings in its history, according to Bertermann. The group also generated revenue of 8.2 billion euros in 2025, sold 842,000 cars and operated in more than 30 countries. This reflects the scale of the group’s business before the reported third-quarter results.
AUTO1 reaffirmed its guidance for fiscal 2026, expecting to sell between 940,000 and 1,000,000 cars and generate gross profit of between 1.1 and 1.2 billion euros. It also maintained its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization range of 250 to 275 million euros. These ranges provide an annual benchmark for tracking the impact of unit growth and improved profit per car on results, with the company leaving its targets unchanged after the third-quarter results. The company set February 24, 2027, for its fourth-quarter and fiscal 2026 trading update and results call. Its 2026 annual report is scheduled for publication on March 24, 2027.