Since the turn of the millennium, multi-franchising has become a prominent feature of UK new car retailing. Small regional groups built from decades of partnership with a single brand have recognised their inherent exposure to new model cycle dips and customer migration and, to cushion such effects, have expanded with alternative brands.

But for Swansea-based CEM Day, Wales’s largest franchised dealer group, multi-franchising hasn’t been the only answer. While the family-owned company has added a few other volume franchises alongside its key partnership with Ford during the past decade, much of its growth has come from bolt-on sidelines that emerged when its management team was quick to identify new profit opportunities over the decades.

As a result, the brands Day’s Rental and Day’s Contract Hire have become as significant in South Wales as the 10 dealerships which trade under the Day’s Motor Group brand. CEM Day also operates its own motor finance subsidiary, which has a £10 million loans book and more than 2,000 customers. In fact, Days Contract Hire has become the fourth-largest independently-owned leasing company in the UK, with customers nationwide and 10,400 vehicles on its books.

It’s a capital-intensive approach to expansion, and one which won’t suit all franchised dealer groups. Funding support is crucial to be able to invest in the fixed assets required and CEM Day is a highly-geared business as a result. Yet the results speak for themselves: in 2012, return on sales was 3.39%, a record result for the business, plus it won the 2012 AM Award for Best Retail Group.

Chief executive Graham Day, grandson of Charles Edward Manton Day, who founded the company in 1926, said supportive, understanding banks were crucial.