Peoples Group reported a drop in turnover (-7.6%) and pre-tax profits (-32.9%).
Chairman Brian Gilda has said seeing figures down is disappointing but not surprising as a similar pattern is being seen across the industry.
He said: “I am a director of the Retail Automotive Alliance and we know from some of the discussions there that dealers are not doing the numbers that they had anticipated.”
The Group underwent significant transformation as it ended 42 years of Ford exclusivity.
Peoples began representing BYD in January and Omoda and Jaecoo followed in September. Peoples has the highest customer satisfaction score in the UK for BYD.
Gilda said: “When Ford were readjusting their dealer footprint which included taking out models, we had a huge volume which was going to get lost to it, particularly in the North-West of England where we were doing a lot of Ford Privilege business. We could not afford to take that diminution in volume by itself.
“We looked carefully at Chinese brands and as we were doing that, BYD and Omoda and Jaecoo knocked on my door. They had been looking for large conglomerates, public companies and local heroes.
“We had a leap of faith, we felt they were the right ones to deal with based on what we were going to lose in terms of product lineup.
“BYD have been very strong, Omoda and Jaecoo have a bit more to do in the marketplace and they understand that. The relationship is good it’s a blossoming relationship and there is respect on all sides.”
Peoples’ commercial vehicle results and aftersales results were positive.
“We understand the business and we do not have new car salesman selling commercial vehicles, we have commercial vehicle sales people who understand the product, said Gilda.
“Aftersales results are fabulous. We will have issues we will have to deal with in two or three years time, that’s more with electric vehicles but we are trying to think about how to deal with that now, we’re on the case.”
On future plans, Gilda commented: “What we are doing is trying to make sure as we move forward we consolidate what we are doing. There is always that danger of taking that one step too far and going over the end of the cliff.
“We are keen to make sure that the decisions we have made are thought through and implemented and we can measure the success of them.
“It is principally the passenger vehicle part of my business that I am most keen to see developed along with used cars and that will continue on between now and March. That is when we will see what the OEMs have in a really crammed marketplace with new registrations.”