Vertu Motors makes £12.5m acquisition of AM100 car dealer

Vertu Motors has announced it is expecting to pay £12.5 million for an AM100 car dealer group which almost doubles its partnership with Toyota.

Burrows Motor Group has been bought by Vertu Motors in a move which will bring the end of the Burrows brand on car dealerships after 25 years of trading, as all the acquired sites will be rebranded Vertu.

The deal, estimated at £12.5m subject to finalisation of Burrows accounts, also has Vertu take on Burrows indebtedness of £10.5m of property mortgage funding plus stocking loans.

Burrows, which was listed at 94 in last year's AM100 rankings of the UK's biggest car dealer groups, has five Toyota dealerships, plus two Mazda showrooms and one Kia dealership plus a used car site across Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, Sheffield, York and Worksop.

The dealer group, which employs around 350 people, had annual sales in 2023 amounting to £168.9m, with an operating profit of £1.4m. Pre-tax profit was £0.1m, Companies House records show, as the group endured a tough 2023 with rising interest costs and technician salaries at the same time as reduced margins and increasing used car depreciation.

Steve Burrows (pictured) founded Burrows Motor Group in 1999 in his hometown of Rotherham and, with the support of Toyota, began expanding, into Barnsley the same year and Doncaster just four years later.

After 12 years exclusively partnering Toyota, the group began to multi-franchise in 2013, courting first Kia and then Mazda.

Vertu Motors chief executive Robert Forrester, who last week told Automotive Management that Vertu has "considerable" scope to acquire more dealerships, said: "We have long admired the Burrows business and are delighted to have completed this acquisition creating further scale for the group with key manufacturer partners.

"The acquisition of Burrows gives us considerable scale in our partnership with Toyota and strengthens the Vertu brand in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire.

"This is in line with our strategy to actively pursue value accretive growth opportunities to enhance our portfolio, applying strict investment return metrics as well as returning cash to shareholders."

Burrows, who is aged 73, has been an influential retailer for Toyota and was an active member of its franchise board.

As a family-run business, Burrows decided in 2022 that his dealerships would close on Sundays to ensure that staff were able to relax and enjoy their own family time.