British online car seller Cazoo wants to stop its operations in the European Union and cut 750 jobs there, especially in France, to save money and focus on the UK, its biggest market.
Fast growth since 2018
The company had experienced rapid growth since its creation in 2018 and was present in particular in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Cazoo had already announced in early June that it would cut 750 jobs in its network, mainly in the UK, to deal with rising costs and the threat of a recession.
Cazoo had seen its sales affected by the reopening of dealerships after the post-pandemic confinements and had also announced in June to reduce its marketing expenses, its investments, reduce customer service, among several saving measures.
1500 job cuts in total
The company said in a statement that it will begin its closure in Germany and Spain and that it will be in consultation with staff representatives in France and Italy to do the same.
The two waves of layoffs represent 1,500 job cuts in total, or 30% of Cazoo’s workforce, a spokesman told AFP.
“We have made the difficult decision to focus solely on the huge UK used car market, worth over £100bn a year,” founder and CEO Alex Chesterman said in the press release. .
The EU withdrawal plan is driven by “the additional investments that would be required for Cazoo to continue to grow its operations,” says the company, which makes less than 10% of its sales on the continent.
The New York-listed group says it is targeting profitability by the end of next year and hopes, thanks to these closings, to achieve this without the need for additional external financing, with savings of more than £100m expected by the end of 2023.
Cazoo assures that it will seek to “support as much as possible” the employees affected by the closures.
The company went public on Wall Street last year by opting for a SPAC. Its share, which has lost 88% since the start of the year, was up 16.66% on Thursday at 70 cents shortly after opening.
Since its inception, the company has sold 90,000 cars and posted record first-half revenue of £628m, up 153%, but more than doubled its after-tax loss to £243m.
Source: BFM TV
