London and New York, March 6, 2024–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Cazoo Group Ltd (NYSE: CZOO) (“Cazoo” or “we”) is a British online used car platform that makes buying and selling cars as easy as ordering any other product online. ) announced the following: Marketplace, leveraging the strength of the Cazoo brand and the market-leading e-commerce platform built for the benefit of the 13,000 car dealers operating in the UK's highly fragmented used car market for online car retailing. We intend to shift to a business model.
On December 6, 2023, Cazoo completed a series of transactions to restructure its capital structure and a new board of directors (the “Board”) was appointed. Since taking office, members of the Cazoo Board of Directors have considered our strategic options and believe that a transition to a pure marketplace business model is the best direction for Cazoo and all of its stakeholders. This has the key advantage of our nationally recognized and trusted brand and a technology platform that delivers a market-leading customer experience and is built on the demand for online trading from our customers and UK dealers. It is something that takes advantage of.
The adoption of the marketplace model leverages Cazoo's market-leading e-commerce platform and over £100m of investment in the Cazoo brand. The brand is now one of the top five most recognized car brands in the UK, with Cazoo able to sell nearly 160,000 retail cars entirely online since 2019. The Board of Directors believes that Cazoo creates new opportunities for dealers in the highly fragmented used car market. Car dealers with online platforms offer their vehicles to an average of 1 million consumers who visit Cazoo's website every month. Cazoo supports interactions between consumers and car dealers across a variety of business models, including allowing customers to complete transactions completely online using his Cazoo platform.
Cazoo leverages its vast customer and data resources, including the 185,000 valuations it provides each month to consumers looking to sell their cars. Based on this data and other proprietary pricing data, Cazoo provides car dealers with valuable customer and market analysis insights to support their sales and marketing efforts We are in a good position to help source new inventory in the car market.
To accomplish this transition, we will clear inventory through our retail and wholesale channels starting March 6, 2024. We have also changed our operations to align with a pure marketplace model, including exiting fulfillment operations and reducing headcount to focus on our e-commerce technology platform, proprietary data, brand, digital marketing and commercial capabilities. intend to do something.
Paul Whitehead, CEO of Cazoo, said: “Moving Cazoo to a pure automotive market business model leverages our key advantages: the nationally recognized and trusted Cazoo brand and the Cazoo e-commerce technology platform. We have built a data-driven business for the UK and sold nearly 160,000 cars. We have demonstrated that there is a robust demand for online trading in the car market. It means we can offer dealers the opportunity to put their stock in front of an average of 1 million potential customers who visit Cazoo. The UK used car market is a huge opportunity for Cazoo, with around 7 million transactions a year. , with an estimated value of £100bn.
“We look forward to completing this transition and beginning an exciting new chapter for Cazoo, building on our investments in both the Cazoo brand and our e-commerce technology platform.”
management change
Following the completion of the Board's review of the business and a new strategic direction agreed and implemented, Paul Whitehead has decided that now is the right time to step down as CEO. did.
Paul has been with Cazoo for over five years, joining at the company's inception as Chief Operating Officer. Since taking over as CEO, Paul has successfully focused Cazoo on the core UK retail opportunity for the business, improving gross profit per unit quarter-on-quarter, significantly reducing costs and Extended the company's cash runway. He oversaw the completion of Cazoo's debt restructuring before leading the board's recent strategic review of Cazoo's business model. Paul will step down as CEO at the end of March, but he will remain at Cazoo until at least mid-May as a strategic advisor to support the transition to a new business model.
Cazoo has an experienced board and management team that has been through the restructuring process and will guide the business through this transition period.
Tim Isaacs, Chairman of Cazoo, said:“I would like to thank Paul for his tremendous contribution to Cazoo over the past five years and for guiding the business, including recently through the group's debt restructuring and successful focus on the UK market.
“We are very pleased that Paul has agreed to stay on as a strategic advisor, as his knowledge and experience in the digital marketplace business will be invaluable.”
Other updates
As previously disclosed, in connection with our December 2023 debt/equity exchange, we have committed to remain listed on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) through at least March 20, 2024. However, there is no obligation to do so. After that date, we will remain listed or registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Our Board of Directors has evaluated our liquidity and cost structure, including the costs of being a publicly traded company and whether the benefits of being a publicly traded company outweigh the costs. In an effort to conserve cash, the Company has notified the parties to the Registration Rights Agreement that the Company may delist from the NYSE and deregister its securities in accordance with applicable SEC regulations. did.
The Board also continues to review strategic initiatives with a focus on meeting Cazoo's liquidity needs.
For more information, please see our Form 6-K and accompanying exhibits filed with the SEC on March 6, 2024.
About Kazoo – www.cazoo.co.uk
Our mission is to transform the car buying and selling experience across the UK by providing better choice, value, transparency, convenience and peace of mind. Our goal is to make buying and selling cars no different than ordering any other product online, allowing consumers to easily and seamlessly buy, sell and finance cars completely online.
Forward-looking statements
This communication contains “forward-looking statements.” You should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events, as expectations, estimates and projections of Cazoo's business may differ from actual results. These forward-looking statements generally include “believes,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “intends,” “strategy,” “future,” “opportunities,” “may,” “will” ”, identified by the word “would”. Expressions such as “'', “can'', and “will become''. Forward-looking statements are predictions, forecasts or other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release. Including but not limited to: (1) our ability to achieve our proposed plans within the estimated time period; (2) our ability to achieve satisfactory prices from vehicle sales; (3) our ability to successfully transition to a marketplace business model and realize the benefits of this new business model; (4) our ability to attract a significant number of dealers to use the Website; (5) our ability to raise additional capital to meet our liquidity needs before the start of the second half of 2024 or at all on acceptable terms; (6) our ability to successfully pursue strategic alternatives, including asset sales, mergers, sales of our business or portions thereof, or joint ventures; (7) the risk that our board of directors may act contrary to shareholder consent; (8) our ability to comply with restrictive debt covenants, including liquidity covenants, contained in the indentures governing our senior secured notes; (9) attracting, training, and retaining key personnel; (10) Effectively promote the Cazoo brand and increase brand awareness. (11) Acquisition and protection of intellectual property. (12) achieve and maintain profitability in the future; (13) global inflation and rising costs of labor, fuel, materials and services; (14) geopolitical and macroeconomic conditions and their impact on the prices of goods and services and consumer discretionary spending; (15) expand Cazoo's product offerings and introduce additional products and services; (16) improve future operating and financial results; (17) Achieve long-term growth goals. (18) comply with laws and regulations applicable to Cazoo's business; (19) volatility in the trading price of our Class A common stock; (20) The impact on the trading market for our securities and reduced liquidity if we are delisted and deregistered. (21) Cazoo may cease to be a publicly traded or SEC reporting company in the future, which may make it more difficult to buy or sell our securities; (22) As described in the “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” sections of Cazoo Group Ltd.'s Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on March 30, 2023. Other risks and uncertainties. and in subsequent filings with the SEC. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the disclosures contained in other documents that Cazoo files with the SEC from time to time. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. . Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and Cazoo reserves the right to refrain from updating or updating these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. We have no obligation or intention to modify it. There is no guarantee that Cazoo will achieve its expectations.
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contact address
Public relations activities for investors:
Cazoo: Anna Gavrilova, Head of Investor Relations, investors@cazoo.co.uk
ICR: cazoo@icrinc.com
media:
Cazoo: Peter Bancroft, Interim Communications Director, press@cazoo.co.uk
Brunswick PR: Simone Selzer, +44 20 7404 5959