Carsales is an example of me becoming my father. What is it with all this newfangled stuff, the place to buy a car is Parramatta Road after looking in the Sydney Morning Herald classifieds...

Well, that was then, and then there was carsales. 

Wait though, now I am informed by Mr 20-year-old, carsales is old school. Everyone now goes to Facebook marketplace. And there I was thinking Facebook was for boomers.

But I digress. 

Carsales.com operates an online marketplace for automotive, motorcycle, and marine classifieds in Australia, Brazil, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Chile, China, Argentina, and Mexico.

Results released today looked good to me, with some results surprisingly for the half to the end of December:

• Revenue of $282M, up 30% year-on-year 
• EBITDA of $149M, up 15% year-on-year
• Adjusted net profit after tax of $89M, up 20% year-on-year 
• Interim dividend up 2% year-on-year

Car prices during the pandemic skyrocketed. None of us wanted to be on public transport so anyone that had to travel to work purchased, and all those hankering for a holiday upgraded their ride to do so in style at home. Apparently, we also purchased caravans and jetskis for the same reason. 

This run for carsales may continue when borders reopen and we all offload this swag of cars, boats, and the like to fund our trips back overseas.

Carsales Australia cemented leadership (seems Mr 20-year-old is not always correct) private car sales were strong (check the price of a used Hilux, something that would have been $15k is now listed for $25), offset by poor dealer contribution as they had no stock – think chip delay.

Of the international sites mentioned above, Brazil was a total boss with revenue up 200+%, with South Korea and the USA up 19% and 12% respectively.

Shares are incidentally trading at almost the price they were 12 months ago, after having fallen about 15% from the end of last year.

This is one I have owned in the past and exited to fund a real-estate purchase. I am not as familiar with the business as I used to be – if I were to seriously look again I would consider the external risks despite them having firmed their market leadership.

Supply of cars has been fubar since all this COVID palava. Lack of chips has been a major cause apparently. I mentioned this is a Carbon Revolution straw. Check it. 

Anyway, boss lady decided it was time for her to get a new motor in February this year. It just got delivered, that chip thing must be real.

Problem is she has now changed her mind, so time to offload it. Where do you go to sell a car, carsales, where else? Twenty somethings will likely disagree*, but I digress. 

Looking at their pricing model they look to have done some real work. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but somehow, I doubt it. The more expensive the range you pick to position your car, the more expensive the ad. I see science. The company has been awarded for artificial intelligence so who am I to argue.

They also have three tiers to choose from. They use the exclusivity tactic to upsell. I can tell you that works, I have an ad up using the top tier. 

The company is somewhere around the 100 largest listed on the ASX with a market cap north of 5.5B Impressive when it was founded less than 25 years ago. They now operate market places in 8 markets.  This clip the ticket model has resulted in a business that is highly profitable, despite COVID, where all the spare cash inflated the used market. 

Thinking longer term, this is not a company that is going to be impacted by the change from ICE to EV. Carsales doesn’t care how the vehicle is powered. Also, I think the move to autonomous vehicles and thereby lower ownership sprouted by futurists and fellas with a few extra beers in them is further away than is envisioned. Carsales with be fine for years to come. 

Is Carsales a buy? Well it definitely was a year ago, today the price has had a strong run, and probably above my far value calculation.

*Facebook marketplace is apparently the place to be