Online used car retailer Carro posts record $464m revenue

Carro, Southeast Asia’s largest online used car retailer, announced that it more than doubled its revenue and gross profit to a record in its last financial year, achieving more than S$650 million ($464 million) in revenue. It is currently tracking at over S$1.3 billion in run-rate revenue and is poised to deliver another 2x growth in revenue this financial year (FY2023).

The pioneers of the Certified Pre-Owned vehicle e-marketplace in Southeast Asia also achieved profitability in its last financial year.

“FY2022 was our strongest showing yet. Not only did we grow 2.5 times, we did so profitably. We were laser focused over the pandemic around operational excellence and cost improvements; we chose to utilise programmers to solve our problems and are starting to see the fruits of our labour,” said co-founder and CEO Aaron Tan.

The group’s continued focus on online retailing and machine learning have brought about record gross profits. The company is on track to improve its gross profit margins to about 10% by the end of this financial year, thereby tripling its absolute gross profit.

Carro’s online retailing of Certified Pre-Owned vehicles and financial services arm also drove the bulk of its improvements in profitability and margins. Excluding its wholesale business, the company expects gross profit margins to be almost 15%.

Genie Financial Services, Carro’s wholly-owned fintech business, also recorded a very strong FY2022. The company’s NPL (Non Performing Loans) ratio remains at a low of 0.1% as it continued to deliver about 30% ROE (Return on Equity) in the last financial year. The overall loan book grew almost 2 times to a record S$400 million this year.

“Our revenue growth was not just driven by a single market – in fact all four of our markets contributed to the strong financial year. Thailand alone transacted approximately 35 thousand units run-rate per year and Indonesia today accounts for almost S$40 million annualised EBITDA. We expect revenue for our online retail and ancillary business to hit over S$500 million this financial year,” said chief financial officer Ernest Chew.

Headquartered in Singapore, Carro has a strong presence in Asia Pacific supported by more than 2,000 employees across Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam. It has raised over S$700 million from SoftBank Vision Fund and several sovereign funds.