Axle Group hails success of £12 million investment in National Tyres

The Executive Board of Axle Group Holding Limited has reported “significant growth” in the 18 months since it announced its three-year, £12 million inward investment strategy in March 2018.

According to the company, the investment has three core pillars:

The first was investment in Axle’s network infrastructure including a significant capital investment in refurbishing its 240-strong National Tyres and Autocare branch portfolio and increasing the size of its mobile tyre fitting operation.

The second pillar was investment in equipment driven by technological advances and the increasing complexity of vehicle repairs, particularly around diagnostic code readers and 4-wheel alignment equipment.

The final pillar was upgrading group-wide IT systems including the introduction of new tablet devices across its expanding mobile tyre fitting operation.

According to GfK figures, National has increased its market share every year since 2014 and in 2019 is expected to comfortably exceed last year.

Autocar now represents 40% of National Tyres’ businessp

Autocare sales have also grown considerably with higher margins helping to offset declining tyre margins. National recently signed a three-year contract with the Parts Alliance to support its growing non-tyre business and in September launched its new fixed price servicing offer.

Alan Revie, Chairman of Axle Group commented: “GfK report our core tyre market is down around 6 per cent to September, yet National’s sales are significantly up. Despite challenging market conditions, uncertainty around the economy and weak consumer confidence, 2019 looks set to be a record year for National with revenues forecasted to exceed last year’s record.”

“Serving well over a million customers a year, we are seeing significant growth in our core tyre business, but also within our autocare portfolio, particularly brakes, steering, suspension and our newly launched servicing offer. Our Autocare business now represents 40 per cent of our total revenue.”

“This performance is a testament to the strength of the brand; our customer service culture; our continual investment in the business and our operational and management expertise.”