Pinewood.AI accelerates growth with revenue rise and US expansion plans

Pinewood Technologies Group PLC (Pinewood.AI), the London-listed cloud software specialist for automotive retail, has reported a strong first half for the six months to 30 June 2025, with revenue up 21.7% to £19.6m compared with £16.1m a year earlier.

The group said the uplift was driven by “increased client spend and the successful integration of the Seez AI solution”. Recurring revenue reached £16.8m, or 85.7% of total turnover, underscoring the shift towards subscription-led income.

Gross profit rose 17.2% to £17.0m, maintaining a margin of 86.7%, while underlying EBITDA advanced 14.5% to £7.9m at a margin of 40.3%. Underlying profit before tax edged up 10% to £4.4m. Cash reserves more than doubled to £30.3m from £13.0m at July 2024, reflecting an oversubscribed equity placing, strong cash conversion and final settlement of tax balances from the sale of its motor group.

Pinewood.AI said the modest dilution of margins followed the Seez acquisition and was “in line with expectations”. Net user churn, excluding Lithia, remained minimal at 0.3% in the period.

Operationally, the company has pushed ahead with its international strategy. It completed the $42m purchase of 90.9% of Seez, strengthening its AI capabilities. In April it announced a five-year contract with Volkswagen Group Japan covering some 350 Volkswagen and Audi dealers. In May, the firm entered North America by extending its Porsche dealer network with a first Canadian installation, supported by new manufacturer interfaces.

Pinewood.AI also agreed in June to buy out Lithia’s 51% stake in Pinewood North America LLC for $76.5m, a deal approved by shareholders on 30 June. A new five-year contract with Lithia will roll out the Pinewood.AI platform across its US stores, expected to generate about $60m a year by 2028. A pilot in two US stores is slated for Q4 FY25, with a wider rollout mid-FY26. The group opened a North American headquarters in Florida in June and has begun hiring.

Post-period, the company acquired key customer contracts from its South African reseller for £2.5m, adding an estimated £0.5m–£0.7m of annual EBITDA. Implementation of its system across Lookers dealerships began in July and an agreement with Porsche Japan in September will bring the Pinewood platform to all Porsche Centres there.

In the UK, Pinewood.AI remains focused on delivering its system implementations with Lookers and Marshall Motor Group, with Marshall’s rollout shifted to Q1 2026 to align with other IT projects. Outside the UK, management highlighted continued priority geographies including North America, Central Europe, Japan, South-East Asia, South Africa and the Middle East, where Seez’s regional presence is expected to drive growth.

Updated guidance reflects a short-term £1.3m accounting impact from the North American buyout and the timing change of Marshall’s implementation. The group now expects FY25 underlying EBITDA of £15.5m–£16.0m and has introduced a medium-term FY28 target of £58m–£62m.

Chief executive Bill Berman said the half year marked “another half of great progress”, adding: “Our strong year-on-year performance reflects the onboarding of major new customers and increased spend across our existing customer base… Taking full ownership of Pinewood North America LLC and the contract signed with Lithia marked major achievements in our growth strategy for this key market.”

He said the group remained “on track to pilot the Pinewood Automotive Intelligence™ platform later this year” and described the new EBITDA target as “ambitious”, underpinned by a “pipeline of new customers” and the “scale of the global opportunity” in the market.

“Pinewood.AI accelerates growth with revenue rise and US expansion plans” was originally created and published by Motor Finance Online, a GlobalData owned brand.

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