Auto Trader moves into the fast lane delivering £15 million windfall for top investors

Auto trader revved up a £15 million windfall to funds including BlackRock today after car buffs helped to steer sales into the fast lane.

The world’s laregst fund manager, Auto Trader’s top shareholder with a 12% stake, gets £1.8 million of the total after a 1.5p per share full-year payout.

The forecourt business has also promised to give “the majority” of spare cash back to shareholders in future after slashing £135 million off its half a billion pounds of debt.

A third of earnings will also be returned in dividends next year.

Trevor Mather, chief executive, praised the company’s first year on the stock market after a blockbuster float last year. He said that the business would help car buyers to “win” in the marketplace.

“We are focused on making the whole car-buying process easier and less stressful for consumers,” he added.

Auto Trader was once a bastion of the news-stands but the print edition closed in 2013. It now makes money in a similar fashion to online businesses like Rightmove, Zoopla and Just Eat.

Group revenues for the year ending March 2016 rose 10% to £282 million and underlying profits were up 19% to £171 million.

Underpinning the rise was a 10.5% increase in average revenue per retailer forecourt, a key measure of performance, rising to £1,384 a month.

Auto Trader was previously owned by private equity firm Apax, but was floated on the FTSE 250 last year.

The buyout firm exited nearly all its stake in February, selling a 23% block of shares to other investors.

Before that it was co-owned by the Guardian Media Group.