I.A. Hedin Bil - Annual Report 2018 1
” Welcome to the 2018’s version of I.A. Hedin Bil
AB’s annual report.” A WORD FROM THE CEO 2018 has been an incredible year. During the year, we inaugurated and re-opened a total of seven dealerships. We opened in eleven new locations, acquired 14 new dealerships and established ourselves in a new market, Belgium. With this, we passed a milestone when we mid-year welcomed our hundredth dealership. All in all there have been many incredible achievements to be proud of. Of course, one of the major events in 2018 was the establishment of our business in Belgium. During spring we took over the operation of seven dealerships in and around Ghent and after the summer another five dealerships around Antwerp. To expand into a new market has been an exciting challenge that we look forward to develop further in 2019. Bavaria, which is a dealer of BMW and MINI, has continued to grow, but also consolidated its operations in both Sweden and Norway. The organization has been strengthened with key roles with the aim to centralize certain functions to achieve synergies. In 2018, through Bavaria, we acquired three dealerships in the northern parts of Sweden. As a result, our northernmost dealership is now located in Luleå. 2018 was the year Hedin Performance Cars, with focus on Porsche in Sweden and Norway, strengthened its position in the premium segment by expanding the trade of high-end pre-owned cars. In 2019, we are looking forward to the opening of a new Porsche Center in Sweden and the move of one Porsche Center in Norway. The sales of new vehicles in Sweden remained at high levels in 2018, while consumer behavior was significantly affected due to the new Bonus-malus legislation in Sweden that came into force 1st of July. Therefore, a large number of vehicles were registered before end of June, which gave an imbalance in sales statistics we have not experienced before. The Belgian market was also under stress due to the new emission regulations introduced during the autumn. In Norway, the biggest impact was the increase of sales of electric vehicles in the market. Overall, 2018 is summed up as our best year of sales with 78 504 sold vehicles. In November we launched Hedin Certified, which is our unique concept for used cars. In 2018 about 25 299 used vehicles were sold in Sweden by Hedin Bil and the goal is to increase that volume and to become the obvious choice when it comes to buy used vehicles. This is a selection of events that took place during the year. In this annual report you can read more about our business, about how we work with sustainability and about the car brands we provide at our 107 dealerships in Sweden, Norway and Belgium. I want to thank everyone who contributed to a successful 2018. Anders Hedin, owner and CEO I.A. HEDIN BIL AB / ANNUAL REPORT / 2018 7