Perfect storm

For the majority, a “perfect storm” of factors weighed heavily on their businesses, including a period of difficult weather conditions and also uncertainty over future agricultural support that sapped farmers’ appetite for investment in new and second-hand kit.

Exporting used tractors, especially to EU countries, proved more difficult and costlier in a post-Brexit world, while increased wage rates and energy prices pushed the cost of running a dealership ever higher.

Another significant factor that gnawed away at profits was the painful combination of higher than usual stock levels, in terms of new product caused by an over-supply as manufacturing supply chains fully recovered from the impact of the Covid pandemic, and increased interest rates.

Selling off stock to reduce that impact and generate cash became a pretty much universal strategy across the board, which in turn suppressed values and margins in a “fight to the bottom” as one director put it.

Turnover impact

Startin Tractors’ smart Warwickshire premises © Startin Tractors

Among dealers that saw a turnover crash, Anglesey-based John Deere agent Mona Tractors recorded the biggest drop, down 23.8% to £12.2m, followed by George Browns, Startin Tractors and John Bownes, all around the 20% mark.

Another clutch of outlets – including Britain’s two biggest, Scot JCB and Claas UK’s dealer subsidiaries, and also Redlynch and Netherton Tractors – dropped 15-17%.

The 16% reduction in Claas-owned dealer turnover partly reflects an unusually high 2023 figure resulting from the short-supply situation experienced in 2022 and the resulting carry-over of deliveries.

Smaller declines of 13-14% were recorded by John Deere dealers Masons Kings and Smallridge Brothers, which opened a new Truro branch at the end of the year, and New Holland dealership Lloyd.

2024 Shut-downs

Russells relinquished its spacious Cubley depot to RVT © Russells

An unprecedented number of dealership closures were experienced in 2024.

In some cases, directors saw the writing on the wall and shuttered their operations while solvent – including Collings Brothers of Abbotsley in Cambridgeshire, Steve Thorley Potato Equipment, RC Setchfield at Grantham, Lincs, Merlo dealer Yorkshire Handlers in York, and MKM Agriculture, Bedfordshire.

For others, closure was more painful, the financial casualties including Suffolk Agri Centre, Balgownie in Aberdeenshire, New Holland dealer CR Willcocks in Devon, the Case IH outlet CT Hayton in Cumbria and Valtra’s Malpas Tractors at Wrexham.

The only silver lining here was the territory expansion opportunities these failures provided, notably for Russells and Ernest Doe & Sons who were well-placed to capitalise on the year’s biggest collapse, that of Lincs-based Burdens Group.

Pre-pack agreements to purchase selected assets were finalised to coincide with the Burden Group’s pre-administration advisors being appointed administrators, with 80-plus jobs saved in the process.

Russells, having relinquished its Staffordshire/Derbyshire territory and sizeable Cubley branch to Rea Valley Tractors at the end of August, acquired Burden’s northern New Holland territory business assets, including stock and the premises at Louth and Brigg.

Ernest Doe Holdings turnover was unchanged at £159.2m © Ernest Doe

Ernest Doe bought the Sutterton and North Kyme branches in south Lincolnshire that were subsequently allocated the Case IH franchise alongside New Holland to bolster their economic potential.

For full details, see fwi.co.uk or Farmers Weekly, 24 January issue 2025

Turnover gains

In contrast, some recorded substantial turnover gains, the most spectacular result coming from Charlies Ag & Turf, previously handling mainly groundscare machinery as a unit of a large retail store operation.

Being allocated John Deere’s Welshpool territory, after Rea Valley Tractors’ late 2023 franchise switch to New Holland, transformed Charlies into a fully-fledged, standalone business operating in the agriculture and groundscare sectors carrying complementary machinery from Ktwo, Marshall, Maschio, Opico and Pottinger.

In 2023, the business posted a near-70% jump in turnover from £7.9m to £13.4m, and achieved the same feat in 2024 with a 71.6% increase worth £9.6m to total £23m.

Crawford Group also fared well, benefiting to some extent from the creation in 2023 of Crawford Automotive with the Isuzu franchise; the Agco dealership gained £12.3m (18.1%) in turnover to a new high of £80.4m and a couple of places higher in the Farmers Weekly ranking.

Scotland’s Ross Agri Services saw a 14.3% lift to £19.2m, having the year before gained more Merlo territory and established a third branch at Muir of Ord for Fendt.

A little to the south, Agricar’s six-branch New Holland network increased turnover by almost 14% to £42.6m and a similar percentage increase was scored by B&B Group, which includes B&B Tractors and B&B Machinery.

It achieved £61.5m turnover with contributions from Sany construction machinery sales and a new branch at Swineshead, Lincs for Manitou, both secured in 2023.

B&B Machinery depot in Lincs for the Manitou franchise © B&B Machinery

Case IH dealer Stalham Engineering (£11.5m), the Massey Ferguson outlet RVW Pugh Group (£39.8m) and Kubota dealer GGM Holdings (£14.4m) all gained ground by some 11%.

GGM is an established Kubota groundscare dealer that moved into the agricultural sector mid-2023, covering Merseyside and parts of Lancashire from established branches at Colne and Haydock St Helens, and also West Yorkshire.

Team GGM – Chris, Hilary and Thomas Gibson © GGM

Claas dealer Morris Corfield served up an 8% turnover increase to £40.5m, while Henton & Chattell (Kubota), Bryson Tractors (New Holland) and west-country Massey Ferguson dealer Rundle & Co Agri saw gains of about 6%.

Lister Wilder remained Kubota’s biggest European dealer © Lister Wilder

In February 2024, Rundles opened a purpose-built depot at Winkleigh to serve customers across north and mid-Devon, and north-west Somerset, and in the same month was appointed as a Caterpillar area sales and service centre for Devon and Cornwall, supplying Cat construction equipment up to 20t excavators.

In Scotland, Hamilton Ross Group, representing Agco brands and JCB, and New Holland dealership Ravenhill, scored turnover growth of 5%.

Compass Tractors in Somerset (£24.1m), Johnston Tractors (£14.9m) at Dumfries, and Tuckwells in eastern and south-east England recorded gains of about 4%, the latter taking its turnover to £124.5m and the number 10 slot in the “biggest dealer” ranking.

Midway through 2024, Tuckwells expanded its professional grounds maintenance territory by acquiring Tomlinson Groundcare near Stowmarket in Suffolk, having the previous year added Yanmar to its varied portfolio of compact construction equipment.

At Hamblys, winning the Bobcat franchise for Devon and Cornwall early in 2024 will have helped the dealership repeat 2023 turnover at £23.5m in the face of weaker agricultural demand, and the same feat was achieved at triple-branch dealership Andrew Symons, with turnover maintained at £18.1m for a second year.

The New Holland dealer’s performance was partly boosted by having its Honda ATV franchise extended to the company’s South Molton branch for north Devon and Somerset, and more so by the allocation of New Holland’s south Devon territory after CR Wilcocks’ financial failure.

There was less welcome news for G&J Peck in July 2024 when CNH served 12 months’ notice on the dealership’s Case IH and New Holland franchise agreements, a move that later prompted a consolidation of branches to reduce overheads and a search for an alternative franchise to run alongside JCB.

Profits hit

As a consequence of burdensome cost increases, most notably interest on stock finance, 72% of dealerships analysed saw profits hit whether or not they increased turnover.

This figure includes 21 dealers (29% of the total sample) that recorded a pre-tax loss in contrast to profitable performances in prior years, other than the half dozen that posted a second-year loss and mostly a bigger one.

All being well, substantial assets in all cases should help them weather the storm.

Profits up

Agricar – its Forfar branch pictured – increased turnover by almost 14% to £42.6m © Agricar

By good fortune or effective management – and probably a combination of both – 23% of dealers analysed recorded an increase in pre-tax profit despite the vagaries of the tough market situation.

Wilfred Scruton reversed a prior-year loss and Turney Group turned a very modest 2023 profit into a more reasonable one, while RVW Pugh Group, Hamilton Ross, Compass Tractors, Johnston Tractors, Ernest Doe, Ross Agri Services and Agricar led the rest in percentage increase terms.

Reco JCB, J&S Montgomery, JE Lawrence, Crawford Group, Redlynch and Henton & Chattell also managed the market well enough to record pre-tax profit increases, the latter having experienced its first full year with Kubota after switching from John Deere mid-2023 and moving into agricultural equipment alongside groundscare machinery.

Crawford Group’s Writtle branch; turnover hit £80.4m in 2024 © Crawford Group

Ranking moves

As far as the “biggest dealer” turnover ranking positions are concerned, there have been few changes; Scot JCB, which earned approximately £60m or 29% of turnover from agricultural equipment sales, Claas UK (through its trio of wholly-owned dealer subsidiaries) and John Deere dealer Farol retain their top three positions.

Ben Burgess climbs a couple of places, Chandlers rises one place as Ripon Farm Services slips one, and TH White, Doe and Lloyd retain their previous year positions among the top 15.

Positive developments for Lloyd included the April 2024 opening of its Cabus branch near Garstang to serve a New Holland territory gain in northern Lancashire, and the appointment as a Mecalac machinery dealer – reinforcing a trend across all leading dealerships to exploit skills and resources by taking on light and heavy construction equipment sales and support.

Lloyd retained ninth position in the 2024 turnover rankings © Lloyd

Rea Valley Tractors held on to the number 16 position with £94m turnover, having acquired neighbouring New Holland dealership Teme Valley Tractors and its branches at Knighton and Welshpool in Powys,
mid-Wales.

RVT made a further expansion investment later in the year with the Cubley depot and New Holland Staffs/Derbs territory of Russells, which enabled the company to move its JCB and Kuhn operations from its more constrained Sudbury premises, which were closed.

A further closure came late in the year with the shuttering of RVT’s Newport branch in Shropshire as a result of the Cubley acquisition and expanded capacity at Shrewsbury.

Reducing overheads was also behind Scot Agri’s decision to shut its Haddington depot in East Lothian.” 

Ranking tables