North Carolina-based Sonic Automotive Inc. is riding the waves of an impressive uptick.
In a recent press release, company executives reported second quarter earnings per diluted share from continuing operations of $0.23 to $0.33 cents. In addition, authorities noted they expect to achieve permanent SG&A expense reductions of approximately $7 million per month on a go-forward basis compared to pre-COVID-19 levels.
The projections are based on the Fortune 500 establishment’s unaudited results overall three-month period beginning in April along with current expectations for the final six months of the year.
“We continue to see improving operating conditions since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, including steadily increasing automotive retail consumer demand,” Sonic and EchoPark CEO David Smith said in the release. “Both new and used vehicle unit sales volumes, as well as fixed operations revenues, continue to meet or exceed our forecast at the outset of the pandemic, with used vehicle sales actually higher than last year in both the franchise and EchoPark locations in June.”
President Jeff Dyke said the company has continued to see a sales upswing in most of its markets, with some already eclipsing pre-coronavirus levels.
“This increase in consumer traffic has allowed us to begin to bring back many of our teammates to support these higher levels of business activity,” he added in the release. “At the same time, we remain committed to controlling our expense structure going forward and achieving greater return on investment through rigorous inventory and vendor service management as well as optimizing marketing expenses.”
Company officials said they plan to provide an update to their 2020 projections late next month, when financial results for the entire second quarter will also be reported.
Currently with 10 different locations, EchoPark specializes in pre-owned vehicle sales and is a growing operating segment within the company.
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