Mitchell Group expects to drive revenues past £50m by expanding its aftersales workshop and refurbishing its showrooms to the tune of £1.6m, Insider has been told.
The Cheshire Oaks-based car dealership, which specialises in Lexus, Mazda and Skoda, posted a 2014 turnover of £45.2m.
According to its newly submitted accounts, Mitchell North West saw turnover nudge up by 1 per cent to £45.2m in the year ending 31 December 2014. Pre-tax profits increased by 57 per cent to £2.4m over the same period. The strategic report accompanying the accounts described the performance as "another successful year".
Mitchell Group holds the franchises for Lexus, Mazda and Skoda in the Wirrall, Cheshire and North Wales and runs a showroom for each brand on a 5-acre site next to the M53 and the Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet. It also operates an aftersales workshop, which expanded by 25 per cent during the course of 2014 and early 2015.
Neil Crowden, group director at Mitchell Group, said: "We believe we have the largest single aftersales facility in the North West, with a 25-day workshop. This expansion has been key to growing the business in 2014."
The company is currently spending a total of £1.6m on refurbishing its showrooms. After a minor delay, the Skoda site is due to be completed next week, followed by the Mazda site in the middle of 2015 and the Lexus site by the end of the year.
Crowden said: "We're really hoping to wow our customers. We've got a 60-seater customer lounge opening and customers will be able to get refreshments while they wait, it'll be like an airport lounge.
"This will keep us at the forefront of motor retail and we're confident it'll push up turnover above the £50m mark."
Mitchell Group was founded 25 years ago this week with just £100 share capital and a £10,000 overdraft. Mark Mitchell, group managing director, believes the business has survived and prospered over the years because of its strong customer focus.
He said: "We do very little marketing because we prefer to rely on customer retention.
"We offer customers a free car wash every Saturday. Most Saturdays, we wash 180-200 cars, which works out as roughly a kilometre of cars bumper to bumper. This helps us to maintain a very close relationship with our customers."
"And we aim to give away about 10 per cent of our profits to charities annually because we try to do things responsibly and with integrity. Our customers really seem to respond to that."
Mitchell Group is majority owned by Mark Mitchell and his wife Anita. Julie Oliver, group finance director, and Crowden are the other shareholders.
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