WeBuyCars Expands Footprint and Acquires GoBid Stake

WeBuyCars (WBC) has released its financial results for the six months ending March 2026, demonstrating resilience in a challenging and deflationary trading environment. The group set separate all-time monthly records during the period, buying 17 617 units in January 2026 and selling 17 209 units in March 2026, and continued its aggressive national expansion, adding 2 980 new parking bays across three new supermarkets, growing its national footprint by 23.6%. While the influx of competitively priced new Asian vehicles into the South African market has placed downward pressure on used car margins, WeBuyCars grew its revenue and declared a double-digit increase in its dividend.

Key Financial Metrics

●     Revenue: R14.2 billion, an increase of 7.8% from R13.1 billion.

●     Operating Profit: R701.1 million, a decrease of 4% from R730.3 million.

●     Headline Earnings: R500.1 million, a slight decrease of 1.6% from R508.2 million.

●     Net Cash Generated from Operations: R65.4 million, a decrease of 77% from R284.1 million, reflecting the capital invested in new supermarket capacity and inventory build.

●     Dividend: R0.33 per share, an increase of 10% from 30 cents per share.

Analysis & Outlook 

The share price fell approximately 24% year-to-date, with additional noise from a R2.5 million NCC penalty and R3.4 million in consumer redress payments settled in December 2025. The near-term pressure stems largely from the surge in competitively priced new Asian vehicles, which has triggered a price war in the new car market that has cascaded into used car pricing, forcing WeBuyCars to adjust its selling prices downward to maintain inventory turnover. Management, however, views this as a medium-term positive. The affordable new vehicles flooding the market today will become the used car stock of tomorrow, expanding the company's acquisition base. To position for that growth, the group opened three new supermarkets during the period and has a capital-light Bloemfontein store on track for August 2026, alongside a new dedicated commercial vehicle facility in Centurion, all in service of its target of buying and selling 23 000 vehicles a month by 2028. The most significant strategic development is the R378.6 million acquisition of a 49% stake in GoBid, a digital auction platform for accident-damaged and non-running vehicles, which closes the loop on WeBuyCars' ecosystem and ensures every vehicle it touches has an optimal route to market, with a clear pathway to majority control over time. The rollout of the Inspectify vehicle inspection platform across all supermarkets adds a further layer of competitive advantage, feeding more accurate data into the group's pricing models in a way management believes will improve margins as the business scales.

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** This article was prepared by BROKSTOCK analyst Maboko Seabi