Another former Lookers director joins Hendy Automotive

Hendy Automotive has continued to build up its leadership team, with its latest hire being Lookers' former finance director.

Martin Reay has been appointed to Hendy's operations board in the newly created role of operations finance director. 

Reporting to chief finance officer Jonathan Moritz, Reay will reinforce the finance function at Hendy and ensure necessary resources are available to support its growing motor retail operations.

Moritz said: “Martin joins our operations board with many years of insight in automotive retail. We look forward to working together to steer the group’s next chapter.” 

In 2024 Lookers chief operating officer Duncan McPhee was enticed to join the rival 60-site AM100 dealer group in its COO post, working alongside Moritz and chief executive Paul Hendy, to oversee daily operations and drive performance across key areas, including car and commercial vehicle sales, aftersales, logistics, marketing, finance and insurance, and customer experience.

And just last month Hendy announced a trio of expert advisors would join its board in non-executive roles, including former Marshall chief executive Daksh Gupta as non-executive chairman, lawyer Nigel Farrell of Farrells Legal Services and former Cox Automotive president Michael Buxton, who spent years working alongside Hendy's majority stakeholder John Bailey while they were at remarketing firm Manheim and its parent Cox Automotive.

These appointments follow a recent restructure at Hendy to adapt a regional model of operations.

While many support functions remain centralised, it has created  new ‘Central’, ‘West’ and ‘East’ divisions, each served by at least one head of operations and a team of general managers overseeing individual sites.

McPhee told Automotive Management in December that changing to a regional model "means we will be better able to evaluate and steer performance of a site or area across the group", and will help to identify new growth opportunities, streamline communication and improve collaboration across Hendy's sites to maximise performance.

He revealed an expanded operational board in February with the appointment of two new members and role changes for two others.

Last decade Hendy scaled up to become a group achieving more than £1 billion annual revenues, buying other dealer groups operating in the South of England including Westover in 2019, Seward Group also in 2019, and Lifestyle Europe in 2016.

So far this decade it has focused on its ongoing operations and largely organic growth from its diverse franchise portfolio, but the investment in management expertise is a sign that the group is set to expand further, potentially becoming one of the 15 largest motor retailers in the AM100. 

At Reay's appointment, Moritz added: “Last year, Hendy celebrated 160 years of trading; we didn’t get to this point in our story by resting on our laurels. This is a rapidly evolving industry, and Hendy has repeatedly shown its ability to adapt and thrive, despite challenging market conditions."