AutoCanada Q4 2025 Earnings Report

AutoCanada EPS Results

• Actual EPS: -C$0.06
• Consensus EPS: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

AutoCanada Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $1.12 billion
• Expected Revenue: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

AutoCanada Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q4 2025
• Date: 3/18/2026
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Wednesday, March 18, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 6:00PM ET

AutoCanada (TSE:ACQ) Inc operates car dealerships in Canada. The company offers new and used vehicles, spare parts, maintenance services, and customer financing. AutoCanada retails brands such as Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Audi, Volkswagen, BMW, Mini, Infiniti, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, Fiat, Mitsubishi, and Subaru. The majority of revenue is generated in the new-vehicles sales segment.

AutoCanada Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Management completed a major cost reset, achieving approximately CAD 115 million of annual run-rate savings and a full-year Adjusted EBITDA of CAD 198 million, up 11.5% year-over-year.
• Negative Sentiment: The fourth quarter showed material operational weakness with revenue down 11.8% to CAD 1.1 billion, gross profit down 19.5% to CAD 174 million, and Adjusted EBITDA falling to CAD 32.7 million, ~80% of the decline attributed to execution and store-level disruptions.
• Negative Sentiment: Elevated aged used inventory and earlier procurement misalignment pressured used vehicle GPUs near-term; management expects GPUs to remain weak in Q1/Q2 and normalize in the second half of 2026 after tighter buy-box, pricing, and purchasing controls.
• Positive Sentiment: Collision is a strategic growth pillar — the platform has 33 locations, strong margins, and a pipeline to scale to over 100 stores with disciplined M&A as balance sheet capacity allows.
• Neutral Sentiment: Balance-sheet focus includes maintaining near-term leverage around ~4x net funded debt/EBITDA while expecting roughly CAD 130 million of U.S. disposition proceeds (about CAD 81 million still to be received) to reduce debt; management forecasts momentum building in 6–9 months with full operational normalization in 12–18 months.

Presentation

[Operator]

Thank you for joining AutoCanada's Conference Call to discuss the Financial Results for the Fourth Quarter of 2025. I'm John, your moderator for today's call. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that today's discussion may include forward-looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. I encourage you to review AutoCanada's filings on SEDAR+ for a discussion of these risks, the fourth quarter news release, financial statements, and MD&A. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise.

[Operator]

After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question at that time, please press Star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press Star followed by the number two. I'd like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded today, Wednesday, March 18th, 2026.

[Operator]

Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Samuel Cochrane, Chief Executive Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer of AutoCanada Inc. Please go ahead, Mr. Cochrane.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

Good evening, everyone, and thanks for joining us. I'd like to start by thanking the board for their trust in appointing me to lead AutoCanada at such an important time for the company. Before getting into AutoCanada's results, I want to briefly touch on the state of the automotive market. Demand for automotive vehicles in the fourth quarter was impacted by earlier pull-forward activity. Tariff-related policy changes drove stronger demand in the first half of 2025, and the sunset of Canadian EV tax credits created a tough comparison to the strong fourth quarter of 2024 and resulted in softer store traffic. Across the industry, we also saw affordability pressures continue to weigh on consumers. New and used vehicle gross profit per unit declined for many dealer groups as vehicle availability increased, pricing normalized, and consumers made cost-conscious purchasing decisions.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

At the same time, inflationary pressures and lower GPUs drove SG&A as a percentage of gross profit higher across the sector. With that context, let me discuss 2025 before turning to the quarter. 2025 was a year of significant change for AutoCanada. We undertook one of the most comprehensive transformations in the company's history with a clear objective, reset the cost structure, simplify the business, and position for the next phase of growth. We largely achieved that goal, but work remains. By the end of the year, we reached CAD 115 million in annual run rate cost savings, materially lowering the operating cost base of the company. Operationally, the most challenging issue late in the year was execution at the store level during the transformation.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

As we made changes across the organization, some stores temporarily lost momentum, which impacted sales productivity and gross profit performance relative to the market. Also, certain initiatives were implemented too broadly and without enough flexibility and alignment, which temporarily impacted store operations. Importantly, we have identified those issues and have put a new operations leadership team in place to stabilize and improve the business and restore execution across the network. In the third quarter, we were underperforming the market by roughly 19 percentage points in new retail unit volumes. That improved to roughly 10 percentage points in Q4, and we continued to see improvement in the first quarter as we correct those execution issues.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

The following GP news we experienced in the third and fourth quarters of 2025 largely reflected used vehicle procurement decisions made earlier in the year that were not well aligned with subsequent reductions in staff and marketing spend. This resulted in elevated levels of aged inventory entering 2026. In the near term, we expect to work through that inventory at lower GPUs while implementing stronger controls and reporting around used vehicle purchasing to improve performance going forward. You will see us gradually close the volume gap to the broader market through 2026, with GPUs expected to improve in the second half of the year.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

With that, let me turn to the quarter. Revenue from continuing operations in Q4 was CAD 1.1 billion, down 11.8% year-over-year, primarily due to lower new and used vehicle volumes. Gross profit declined 19.5% year-over-year to CAD 174 million. Normalized operating expenses declined 13.2% to CAD 131.5 million versus the fourth quarter of 2024, partially offsetting the impact of market dynamics and operational disruptions. Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations was CAD 32.7 million compared to CAD 54.4 million in the prior year. Approximately 80% of that decline was related to operational disruptions discussed above, with the remaining 20% driven by market dynamics. For the full year, sales declined 7.1% to CAD 4.9 billion, and gross profit declined 10.4% to CAD 785 million.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

However, adjusted EBITDA increased to CAD 198 million, up 11.5% year-over-year, highlighting the impact of the structural cost reset alongside continued strength in our collision business. Looking ahead to 2026, our focus is on five key priorities. First, stabilizing and improving our automotive retail business. Second, pursuing disciplined inorganic growth in our collision business. Third, improving the support our head office provides the dealerships and collision centers. Fourth, strengthening our recruitment and retention of top operational leaders across the country. We want AutoCanada to be the best place to work for high performers. Fifth, maintaining a lean and efficient cost structure. To achieve that, there are several areas where we are focused on. First, we need to operate our dealership better. This means improving sales productivity, inventory management, trade capture, and service utilization across the network.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

To do this, we need to empower our general managers and frontline staff to make decisions closest to our customers. We also need to improve our service offerings to our dealerships from our store support center. We believe market-leading volumes can be restored over the next six-nine months, and GPUs will normalize over the coming year as execution continues to improve. Second, we will continue to grow our collision platform. Collision remains one of the most attractive parts of the business, with strong margins, insurance-driven demand, and a highly fragmented market. Our platform today includes 33 locations, and we have the team and strategy to support more than 100 stores. We also have a strong track record of acquiring and integrating collision centers. We have a robust pipeline of opportunities and intend to pursue those acquisitions as our balance sheet allows.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

Third, we are focused on improving the administrative services supplied by our store support center to free up our frontline teams to focus on our customers and operate their businesses effectively. Fourth, we are focused on creating a culture of high performance, which will allow us to recruit, develop, and retain the best operators across the country. We must become the best place to work for high performers. Finally, we will remain disciplined on cost. Turning briefly to the balance sheet, we expect leverage to remain around 4x net funded debt to bank EBITDA in the near term as we complete the final U.S. dealership sales and continue improving earnings. We made further progress exiting the U.S. portfolio and continue to expect total proceeds of approximately CAD 130 million, including approximately CAD 81 million that has not yet been received and is expected this year.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

These proceeds will continue to be used to reduce debt and strengthen the balance sheet. Before opening the line for questions, I wanna thank our employees and OEM partners for their commitment during a year of significant change.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

With that, operator, we are ready to open the line for questions.

[Operator]

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. Should you have a question, please press star followed by the number one on your touch tone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by the number two. If you're using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. Our first question comes from the line of Luke Hannan from Canaccord Genuity. Your line is now open.

[Luke Hannan, Research Analyst at Canaccord Genuity]

Yeah, thanks. Good afternoon. Quite a bit to get into here, but look, I'd like to start with the used performance, I guess. You touched on, you know, the fact that there was issues when it came to aged inventory and sourcing from earlier in the year, and you're sort of paying the price for that now, and that was something that had impacted you in Q3 as well. Can you just frame up for us as far as where you stand going into 2026? We understand that GPUs are still gonna be pressured in the near term. I mean, overall, how do you feel about your used inventory still in light of that?

[Luke Hannan, Research Analyst at Canaccord Genuity]

Because look, AutoCanada if we were to look back over the past, there's been several times in the past where it felt like used has been an issue. It seems like it still is. What's gonna be put in place to try and put some guardrails around this, these sorts of issues don't happen again.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

Yeah, thank you. Let me sort of dive into it. The used vehicle GPU declined, right, due to a combination of inventory purchasing decisions ahead of reduced marketing spend, and reduced headcount in the dealerships. Again, this goes back to execution on the cost out. It wasn't exactly where I wanted it to be. Now that I'm in the role, we have a new operations team who's really focused on, you know, the future. Let me answer the first question. GPUs on used will remain tight in Q1. They'll get a little bit better, you know, slightly better in Q2, and they'll begin to fully normalize in Q3 and Q4. The second half of the year, we should get back to normal used GPUs.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

To your question on how do we instill discipline to make sure it doesn't happen again? Obviously, we hired Feld to be COO. He started in January and, you know, a few things he's doing is it's really a full used vehicle strategy reset, including a pricing reset, right? We're gonna price more accurately to market, and we're gonna actually, you know, be able to make the turnover quicker. We're also gonna organize proper mix analysis per store and put in a buy box strategy per rooftop. What does that mean practically speaking? If you look back to 2025, if we bought a used Ford at a Audi dealership, I'm just using a random example, and then all--

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

In the past, we've had success selling that car, and then all of a sudden we turned off AutoTrader, no one could see that car anymore, so it was hard to move, right? Then that was compounded by we didn't have the right discipline on pricing, and so that car aged, right? Going forward, we are turning AutoTrader back on. It is back on all of our stores. We are putting more discipline around what we buy per rooftop, what that mix is. We are gonna reset minimal margin expectations on acquisitions. You can't just buy anything. There's gonna be a minimal margin expectation on each used car that's bought in.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

Between the buy box, the mix analysis, the pricing reset, and the minimal margin expectations, this will all lead to improved turns on used inventory, reduce price to market gaps. What does that mean? Like, we're not gonna have these big gaps where we're priced higher than market and stabilize our front-end margin. You'll see those GPUs stabilize. Going forward, even beyond that, we are also gonna implement service lane acquisitions and the strategy across the network. Listen, disappointing for sure, but I do believe we have the right team to fix this. All the issues have been identified. Those controls are being put in place as we speak and looking back a bit.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

We just have to get through that old inventory. You'll see those GPUs normalize in the-- In sort of late Q2 into the second half of the year. Does that make sense?

[Luke Hannan, Research Analyst at Canaccord Genuity]

It does. Thanks. Thanks for all that color. Then maybe if we flip over to the new business, it's mentioned in the MD&A here that there was a provision taken against specific brands. Is that? Well, the commentary, I'm not sure if this is specific to new, but it looks like it is talking about aged new units. Is that specific to certain brands? Is that across portfolio? Just wanna get some more light shed on what exactly that is.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

Yeah. I'm not gonna call out individual brands, but it is very brand specific. If you look at the press releases or news releases you've seen from the OEMs, there's been a lot of write-offs on EV strategies and this sort of stuff. Think of this as sort of older cars that are new, potentially EVs, harder to move, in certain brands. That. We do believe this is again, a one-time item in this quarter on the new side. It's just sort of part of that cleanup of the, you know, continuing that trend you've seen from all the OEMs when they've done their earnings calls.

[Luke Hannan, Research Analyst at Canaccord Genuity]

Got it. Thanks. One other comment that you made, Sam, was about in basically six-nine months, we should start to see what AutoCanada looks more like on a sort of normalized basis going forward. Again, going through the MD&A, there is a comment mentioning about how it's to get dealership performance back to, we'll call it just industry benchmarks. It's gonna take 12-18 months of execution. Can you just help us reconcile those different outlooks?

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

Yeah. I think what you'll see over the next six-nine is the GPU starting to perform better and the momentum turning in the business. If you wanted, like, the full picture of what this business can do, I think the 12-18 is the better timeframe. The six-nine is you'll see the momentum building back in the business.

[Luke Hannan, Research Analyst at Canaccord Genuity]

Okay.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

In terms of used GPUs start going up again and volume, the volume gap to market, it was 18% in Q3, it was 10% in Q4. Also, you know, there's been a multi-year market share decline in the company, right? We're turning that around. It's, yes, we gotta fix that gap that just happened, that curve steepened, but we also have to get back to winning market share. Again, we have a new team. I think they're focused on the right things. 12-18 months to see the full true run rate of these assets. six-nine to really see the momentum being built in the business.

[Luke Hannan, Research Analyst at Canaccord Genuity]

Okay, thanks. Last one just to clarify, and then I'll pass the line here. When you began the cost out process in your continuing operations, I think you were doing trailing 12 monthly, but close to CAD 175 million. You've taken out.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

That's right.

[Luke Hannan, Research Analyst at Canaccord Genuity]

Now CAD 115 million of costs. I realize the market is what it is right now, so it's not like all that's gonna fall to the bottom line. Is it fair to say if we're looking at this today, it's probably gonna take closer to 12-18 months before you actually do see the full sort of run rate effect of those costs actually flow down to the bottom line, and this business is operating more on a. You're generating even though that's more normalized compared to where you are today.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

Yeah. I mean, listen, 80% of this quarter was execution and things we did to ourselves through the cost out. 20% was macro. We did have a little bit of macro impact in the quarter as well. It started to turn a little bit, and I sort of talked about that at the beginning of my call today. You know, the macro will be what it is. We'll start to improve compared to that. The cost out, yeah, to see the full impact of the cost out, you're gonna have to see us get back that gross, right? 'Cause it's just hard to see with how much volumes have gone down and where the gross profit is. I think you're right, Luke. Like, 12-18 months, I think is right.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

The important part on the cost out is we broke all the bad habits. We now have a culture of just staying lean and keeping the cost out. We will rebuild on this better cost structure, and we sort of reset the culture of the business around cost. I believe you. Yeah, its fruits are gonna pay in the future.

[Luke Hannan, Research Analyst at Canaccord Genuity]

Okay. I'll leave it there. Thanks.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

Thanks, Luke.

[Operator]

As a reminder, if you have any questions or follow-up, please press star one. Our next question comes from the line of Chris Murray from ATB Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

[Chris Murray, Chartered Financial Analyst at ATB Capital Markets]

Yeah. Hi, guys. Good evening. Sam, just maybe kind of following on some of the questions, maybe a couple of other segments just to talk about. Parts and service was also negatively impacted. You know, probably not an inventory issue, but I think, you know, you did mention in the MD&A maybe some of the ACX issues. Maybe if you could just spend some time talking about parts and service and how that was impacted and kind of what gets changed. Because even in this environment, if people are trying to hold on to cars and cut costs, you would think that parts and service would still be doing okay.

[Chris Murray, Chartered Financial Analyst at ATB Capital Markets]

Also, on the collision repair, it was a little softer than I think we were looking for, just in terms of the top line. You've been having some good success there, so just any thoughts around those segments would be helpful, please.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

I'll start with the collision one, because that one's a bit easier to answer. There was a big hail storm in 2024, and our hail business has been sort of at the buffet eating off that, for a while. 2025 was a lighter hail season. I think that's what you're seeing in the top line. That's what you're seeing there on collision. Now, on the parts and service, again, this kind of goes back to execution of the cost out. It was the right idea, I just believe we could have executed it a lot better. In some areas we painted with too broad of a brush, and weren't flexible enough. This led to turnover in parts and service at unacceptable levels.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

With that turnover, you know, you lose team members, you learn. You lose knowledge. The GMs are stuck having to rebuild. Again, these issues have been addressed and fixed. During the year, there was unacceptable levels of turnover in our parts and service staff, and it came down to execution. We'll improve that, and we've already started. You'll start to see that firm up.

[Chris Murray, Chartered Financial Analyst at ATB Capital Markets]

Okay. As I kind of listen to you know, it sounds like you know, you've maybe, as you said, starting to stabilize probably six-nine months. How do we think about the earnings cadence as we go through next year? I mean, I think we're all a little bit, you know, surprised by the numbers out of Q4, a little bit lower than, you know, where the consensus number was. Do you think we can start seeing a recovery? Is it gonna be kind of gradual or would you think it's more kind of a step function as we get to midyear? How do we think about how some of the key drivers in terms of the recovery, at least the way you guys are looking at it?

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

Well, in Q1 here, we'll still be turning over some of the problem inventory that we sort of inherited. A little bit into Q2. What I think you'll see is Q1 will remain challenged. You'll start to see improvement, especially in the second half. Then what you'll see in Q3 is we'll start performing much closer to market, plus GPUs are starting to come back. I think that's how you're gonna wanna model for the year. Listen, like, there's no hiding it. These results are unacceptable, right? They do not show the true run rate of our business.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

With our new culture focused on staying lean and focused on automotive retail and collision, our two pillars of growth, and a new operations team in the automotive retail side, deeply focused on improved execution, I'm confident the second half of this year we will show meaningful momentum towards the true potential of this business. My job now is simple. Keep the team focused on our five pillars, right? Our five key things we're working on. Stabilize and improve automotive retail, disciplined organic and inorganic growth and collision, improve services from our store support center, and then rebuild that culture around performance and retaining and attracting the best talent.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

Of course, staying lean. Like, if we do those five things, and we will, you're gonna see that momentum build in the second half of the year.

[Chris Murray, Chartered Financial Analyst at ATB Capital Markets]

Okay, I'll leave it there and pass the line. Thank you.

[Operator]

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to Sam Cochrane. Please continue, sir.

[Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO at AutoCanada]

Well, thank you for joining the call and for the questions. Thanks again to all the OEM partners and staff and shareholders. Have a great night.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Samuel Cochrane, CEO and Interim CFO

Analysts

• Chris Murray, Chartered Financial Analyst at ATB Capital Markets
• Luke Hannan, Research Analyst at Canaccord Genuity