Waddell is gone from Big Motoring World exactly 2 years since Freshstream investment

Precisely two years since Peter Waddell was "delighted" that private equity firm Freshstream had invested into his Big Motoring World car supermarket group he has found himself terminated as a director at Companies House.

Waddell, who founded the business in the 1980s and oversaw its expansion into a five-site chain before he sold a third of his stakeholding to Freshstream in 2022, was ousted acrimoniously from its leadership team last month in a boardroom shake-up.

A Companies House record update this week shows Waddell is now terminated as a director.

His Peter Waddell Holdco company remains Big Motoring World's largest shareholder, nevertheless. Companies House shows that Peter Waddell Holdco's latest accounts are six months overdue.

Since its investment Freshstream brought in a number of motor retail veterans, including former HPI and Aston Barclay boss Neil Hodson and former Sytner chairman Lawrence Vaughan, to help grow Big Motoring World's footprint further.

At the time of its investment, Waddell said he was delighted with Freshstream and looked forward to working with them as Big Motoring World continued to scale and grow.

"Their investment and expertise will allow us to further accelerate our ambitious growth strategy," he said then.

The deal with Freshstream came after 2021 accounts showed the group's highest paid director's remuneration jumped by £1 million to £1.6m from 2020's £600,000.

In 2021 the business recorded receipt of £1.6m in government Covid grants. That followed £2.6m government grants in 2020.

Now with eight locations in England, Big Motoring World is likely to near £1 billion in annual revenues, as last autum it expanded into the Midlands with the takeover of two car supermarkets previously operated by ID10 rival Available Car.