Rapid expansion showed early sign of paying off at V12 Sports and Classic as the business reported a doubling profit in a record-breaking 2021 trading period.

The Hinckley-based independent car retailer, formed in 2005, opened used car retail sites in an ex-Pendragon Carstore in Worksop and ex-Perrys Citroen in Nelson to take its total footprint to eight stores and workforce to 165 staff last year.

The business also took the strategic decision to expand its in-house preparation centre in Rugby, effectively doubling its capacity, with the aim of being able to process 3,000 vehicles a month for sale.

Despite work to implement the bold changes V12 Sports and Classic was able to achieve a 108% rise in profit before tax, to £5.9m, and EBITDA up by 71% to £7.2m during 2021 as turnover increased 20% to £177.5m

Farhad Tailor, the founder and managing director of V12 Sports and Classics, said: “I am incredibly proud of what the team at V12 has achieved since launch and particularly over the last 12 months.

“Our strong growth, rapid market expansion and great consumer feedback gives us increasing confidence in both our strategy and our ability to deliver on our market share and profitability ambitions.

“During 2021, we made some important strategic progress, creating further moats around our business.

“Whilst we have accomplished an enormous amount in a short period, we are still just at the start of this exciting journey.

“Our strong growth in 2021 combined with the strategic building blocks that we have put in place, including our significant funding, means that we are very well positioned to deliver on our ambitious growth plans.”

V12 Sports and Classics’ operational growth last year was accompanied by a 37.7% increase in car retail volumes – sales rising to 3,640 units.

 V12 Sports and Classics now has used car stores in Wolverhampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Hinckley, Witham, Luton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Nelson and Worksop.