Sonic Automotive reports first quarter financial results

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Sonic Automotive reported its 2019 first quarter financial results showing it is on track to exceed $1 billion in full-year revenue.

“We are very pleased with the results for the quarter with our franchised dealerships offering a solid performance and EchoPark beginning to show what is possible from what we have developed over the last several years,” said CEO David Smith.

“We believe EchoPark revenues will eclipse the $1.0 billion mark in 2019 as our stores are still maturing. To add perspective to the potential scale of EchoPark, its pre-owned unit sales comprised 28.7% of consolidated Sonic pre-owned unit sales in the first quarter of 2019. This is currently being accomplished through eight locations that serve a multitude of surrounding markets across the United States. As we expand our footprint into other areas across the country, we believe EchoPark will exceed the overall volumes and profitability of our franchised dealerships. We believe the combination of our customer-centric shopping experience, high-quality vehicle offerings, rock-bottom pricing, and transparent trade-in appraisals is disrupting the pre-owned markets that we serve. At our EchoPark stores, we continue seeing the markets we serve expand as customers have recognized the value we offer and are traveling hundreds of miles to purchase their vehicle from EchoPark.”

President Jeff Dyke recognized the organization’s leaders in exhibiting effort for a great start of 2019.

“Our franchise and EchoPark leadership teams did a fantastic job giving us one of our best starts to a year that I can remember. We managed our SG&A structure, grew our gross profit and delivered above our internal forecasts in every facet of our business,” Dyke said.

EchoPark reported first quarter revenue of $249.6 million, up 89.8 percent from the first quarter of 2018. Total Sonic consolidated GAAP continuing operations earnings per diluted share of $0.99 in the first quarter of 2019 compared to a continuing operations loss per diluted share of $0.05 in the first quarter of 2018.

It has also been announced that Sonic's board of directors approved a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share payable in cash for stockholders of record on June 14. The dividend will be payable on July 15.