AutoCanada Doubles Ontario Footprint, Adding $ 345 Million in Annual Revenue with Acquisition of Autopoint Group

Strategic Acquisition Offers Strong Geographic and Brand Diversification, Adding 11 Concessions in High Growth Sector Southwestern Ontario Marlet

EDMONTON, AB, December 1, 2021 / CNW / – AutoCanada Inc. (“AutoCanada” or the “Company”) (TSX: ACQ), a North American group of multi-site automobile dealers, announced that it has completed the acquisition of 11 dealerships from the Group Autopoint (“Autopoint”), a group that has been operating for over 17 years in southwestern Ontario. Dealerships generate annual revenues of more than $ 345 million, the sale and maintenance of Honda, Acura, Nissan, Infiniti, Subaru and Kia vehicles.

“The acquisition adds significant size, scale and reach to AutoCanada’s existing platform in a growing market,” said Paul Antoine, Executive Chairman of AutoCanada. “We are very honored to be able to partner with Honda and Acura for the first time, to represent Kia again and to expand our existing partnerships with Nissan, Infiniti and Subaru. Finally, we are very happy to welcome the high quality Autopoint team to the AutoCanada family.

The Autopoint management team shared, “We are extremely pleased to join the AutoCanada family and continue to deliver top notch performance to our OEM partners. All of our team members will remain with us throughout this transaction and have even more growth opportunities alongside AutoCanada.

Highlights of transactions

• The dealers acquired are: London Honda, London Kia, South London Nissan and London Infiniti in London, Ontario; Guelph Kia at Guelph, Ontario; Brantford Honda in Brantford, Ontario; Waterloo Honda at Waterloo, Ontario; and Acura from Hamilton, Subaru from Hamilton, Hamilton Kia and Plaza Nissan at Hamilton, Ontario
• The concessions acquired generate annual revenues of more than $ 345 million, selling over 6,000 new retail vehicles and 3,000 used retail vehicles per year
• Provides geographic diversification in addition to doubling AutoCanada’s value Ontario 7-18 dealer footprint – increasing Ontario retail units mix Canada from 16% to 33%
• Provides brand diversification by adding three new brands to AutoCanada’s Canadian platform and increasing the mix of Canadian import revenue brands from 25% to 32%
• Well-managed dealerships with a talented operating group that will stay with the dealers
• AutoCanada’s playbook and existing operating platforms will support integration and generate growth opportunities
• Autopoint footprint presents exciting opportunities to develop our collision and RightRide divisions
• AutoCanada also entered into an agreement to acquire North London Toyota from Autopoint; this acquisition remains subject to customary conditions, including OEM approval

The transaction will be funded from a draw on the Company’s credit facility and is expected to have an accretive effect on 2022 earnings.

A presentation to investors on the acquisition of Autopoint is available at the following URL: https://investors.autocan.ca/event/acquisition-of-autopoint-group/

About AutoCanada
AutoCanada is a leading North American multi-site auto dealer group operating 78 franchised dealerships, comprising 28 brands, in eight provinces of the Canada as well as a group in Illinois, United States. AutoCanada currently sells Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, FIAT, Alfa Romeo, Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, Cadillac, Ford, Infiniti, Nissan, Hyundai, Subaru, Audi, Volkswagen, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, MINI, Volvo, Toyota, LincolnHonda, Porsche and Acura brand vehicles. In addition, the Company’s Canadian operations segment currently operates two used vehicle dealerships supporting the used digital retail division and four stand-alone collision centers (within our group of 18 collision centers). In 2020, our then dealers sold approximately 66,000 vehicles and processed over 756,000 collision repair and service orders at our 1,098 service areas generating revenues in excess of $ 3 billion.

Additional information on AutoCanada Inc. is available at www.sedar.com and on the Company’s website at www.autocan.ca.

Certain statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements and information (collectively, “forward-looking statements”) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. We hereby provide cautionary statements identifying important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements. All statements that express or involve discussion of expectations, beliefs, plans, goals, assumptions, or future events or performance (often, but not always, through the use of words or phrases such as ” will likely result “,” are expected at “,” will continue “,” is anticipated “,” projection “,” vision “,” goals “,” objective “,” target “,” timelines “,” outlook “,” anticipate ” , “expect”, “estimate”, “might”, “should”, “plan”, “seek”, “may”, “intend”, “likely”, “will”, “believe” and similar expressions) are not historical facts and are forward-looking. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking statements concerning, among other things, the future operating results of the acquired dealers, the successful integration of these dealers into the AutoCanada operations and the growth of the company’s collision and RightRide divisions.

The forward-looking statements included in this press release are not guarantees of future performance and should not be improperly relied upon. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections which, by their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results differ materially from those anticipated and described in forward-looking statements. These known and unknown risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: future operating results, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations, events that interrupt the supply of vehicles or parts to OEMs AutoCanada’s financial condition and liquidity and the duration of such impacts; potential changes in the regulatory and legislative environment; volatility of interest and tax rates; operational risks inherent in the automotive retail industry; and changes in general economic conditions, including capital and credit markets.

Forward-looking statements involve estimates and assumptions and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors some of which are beyond our control and difficult to predict. Therefore, actual results may differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements. In particular, in presenting its forward-looking statements, AutoCanada has made assumptions regarding, among other things, the future operating results of the acquired dealers, the successful integration of the acquired dealers into the AutoCanada platform, the growth opportunities of acquired dealerships and growing opportunities for our Collision and RightRide divisions.

AutoCanada cautions that the foregoing list of assumptions, risks and uncertainties is not exhaustive. The Company’s Annual Information Form and other documents filed with securities regulatory authorities (available on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com) describe the risks, material assumptions and other factors that could affect actual results and which are incorporated herein by reference. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof and AutoCanada assumes no obligation to update or revise them publicly to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required. under applicable securities laws.

SOURCE AutoCanada Inc.

For more information: Mike Borys, CFO, Phone: 780.509.2808, Email: [email protected]