Inchcape plc

Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us. I'm here with our CFO Adrian Lewis and Head of Investor Relations Rob Goerner. I'll give an overview of our Q1 results and strategic progress before giving our perspective on the current tariff situation and the actions we're taking. I'll then hand over to Adrian who will discuss our operational performance in the first quarter in more detail and our view of the outlook. We'll then take your questions. Our results in the first quarter were in line with our expectations, and I was pleased with the market share gains we saw across the group, as well as our continued progress in expanding our portfolio of distribution contracts. Inchcape's new vehicle volumes outperformed the underlying industry volumes in our markets during the period. Organic growth was down 5%, as I said, in line with our expectations, reflecting mixed market momentum and tough comparators, particularly in APAC in Europe. We continued to deliver strategic progress with seven new contract wins in the quarter, including three contract awards with Smart across the Americas, BYD in Latvia and Lithuania, Iveco in Hong Kong and New Holland in Ethiopia, which replaced an immaterial contract exit in that market. In respect of capital allocation, we have made progress consistent with our updated policy announced in March and our £250 million share buyback programme is progressing well and to date we have acquired approximately £55 million or around 2% of shares in issue. On to the tariff situation which remains dynamic and complex. I wanted to remind you that we have no presence in North America, no scaled relationships with US OEMs, and minimal exposure to US production. We see three potential impacts from this situation. Firstly, supply from our OEMs. Secondly, the competitive environment. And thirdly, market demand. It is too early to be definitive on the impact of these, but importantly, our latest data indicates demand is not yet being impacted in our markets beyond the usual trends. With our global leadership position in automotive distribution, driven by our differentiated technology platform, Inchcape is well positioned to help our OEM partners navigate the current environment, supported by our diversified and scaled footprint. We continue to stay close to and collaborate with our OEM partners, capitalizing on opportunities as they emerge. We are being proactive and conservative on inventory management, based on a data-driven approach, and we remain disciplined on costs. This emphasis combines to create a financial approach in these dynamic times that is focused on cash generation, with our leverage remaining well below our one-times limit. So Inchcape is well positioned to support our stakeholders in navigating this market uncertainty, as our experienced leadership team has done during challenging economic situations in previous years. Looking further ahead, we remain excited about Inchcape's growth prospects, driven by our strong relationships with winning OEMs and our ability to grow market share through differentiated technology capabilities and contract wins. This is supported by our robust balance sheet, strong cash generation capabilities and high returns, which provide resilience through the cycle. We are fully focused on delivering against our target of greater than 10% EPS CAGR over the medium term. And with that, I'll hand over to Adrian.

Thank you, Duncan, and good morning, everyone. Before I get into the detail, just a reminder that we have today issued our quarterly Inchcape market tracker to support this trading update, and I will reference some of the key numbers during this presentation. During the first quarter, the group generated £2.1 billion of revenue, down 5% in constant currency and organically. With translational currency headwinds of 3%, reported revenue was down 8%. Our operational performance during the quarter was in line with our expectations, supported by market share gains. Our markets were slightly lower than the prior year by 4%, and overall we are pleased to outperform, with our new vehicle volumes 3% below the prior year, with a further 2% regional mix impact on organic revenue performance. And so looking at the key trends in each of our regions, starting with the Americas, where we have seen growth in the region with industry volumes up 4%. Our teams delivered a strong performance with market share gains leading to growth in key markets, including our largest market, Chile, and across the region. Our business in the Americas remains well positioned to capitalise on market recovery. In APAC, there was a continuation of the trends seen in the second half of 2024. Market headwinds amounted to 7% in the first quarter as we lapped some difficult comparators with weak consumer sentiment in certain markets such as Hong Kong and Indonesia. Notably, Singapore remains on a cyclical upswing and we delivered a resilient market share performance in Australia. Our relative performance in the region continues to be skewed towards half-two due to the product cycle of key OEMs, and there is no data to suggest that the current situation has changed our view on APAC phasing. In Europe and Africa, the market shrank by 3%, and we saw revenues fall as we lapped tough comparators arising from the unwind of our order bank last year. Consumer sentiment in our markets in Q1 has been resilient, with fresh order takes showing positive momentum across the region. And finally from me on to Outlook. Our guidance for full year 25 remains unchanged, as we are yet to quantify the potential impacts from the fast-evolving tariff-related situation. We continue to expect to deliver another year of growth, with product cycles skewing growth to the second half of the year. There have been some movements in major currencies since our full year results on the 4th of March. And I would direct you to our FX sensitivity analysis provided at that time. Now, before I hand back to Duncan, we will be providing a pre-closed trading update in late June to keep investors updated as the tariff situation evolves. Back to you, Duncan.

Hey, thanks, Adrian. Now, before we head to questions, I wanted to finish by saying that we remain excited about Inchcape's growth prospects, driven by our strong relationships with winning OEMs and our ability to grow market share through differentiated technology capabilities and contract wins. This is supported by our robust balance sheet, strong cash generation capabilities and high returns, which provide resilience through the cycle. And we remain fully focused on delivering against our target of greater than 10% EPS CAGR over the medium term. So let's now take your questions. Sergey, over to you before we look at questions that we've had over the webcast. So, Sergey, over to you.