Pre-tax profits dropped by more than £40m at automotive components retailer Euro Car Parts during its latest financial year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Newly filed documents for the 12 months to 31 December 2020, show the company’s pre-tax profits went from £60m to £19.9m, while turnover dipped from £1.08bn to £1.05bn.
The business has more than 200 sites across the country.
A statement signed off by the board said: “The company was adversely affected by the global Covid-19 pandemic during 2020.
“It operated at normal levels of activity and profitability throughout the first quarter of 2020 but experienced a significant reduction in demand and profitability in the second quarter when the effects of the pandemic were at their most severe. At the lowest point, sales were depressed to around 50 per cent 2019 levels.
“Revenue and profitability recovered to pre-pandemic levels in the third quarter of 2020 but fell again in the fourth quarter as a result of the second Covid-19 lockdown.
“This trend continued in the first quarter of 2021 as a result of the third lockdown but the company returned to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the first quarter.”
The business is headquartered in Dordon, near Tamworth.
