UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

(Mark One)
☐ REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR 12(g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

OR

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022

OR

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

OR

☐ SHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of event requiring this shell company report________________

For the transition period from ___________________________ to ___________________________

Commission File Number: 001-40754

Cazoo Group Ltd

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

41 Chalton Street

London, NW1 1JD

United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 20 3901 3488

(Address of principal executive offices)

Ned Staple

41 Chalton Street

London, NW1 1JD

United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 20 3901 3488

(Name, Telephone, Email and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act: None

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report:

On December 31, 2022, the issuer had 768,797,693 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share outstanding.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

U.S. GAAP ☐

International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board ☒

Other ☐

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow. Item 17 ☐ Item 18 ☐

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

CAZOO GROUP LTD
TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXPLANATORY NOTE

On March 29, 2021, Ajax I, a Cayman Islands exempted company (“Ajax”), Cazoo Holdings Limited, a private limited company organized under the law of England and Wales (“Cazoo”) and Capri Listco, a Cayman Islands exempted company (“Listco”), entered into the Business Combination Agreement, as amended by the First Amendment thereto, dated as of May 14, 2021 (the “Business Combination Agreement,” and the transactions contemplated thereby, the “Transaction”) which, among other things, provided that (i) Ajax would merge with and into Listco, with Listco continuing as the surviving company, (ii) Listco would acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Cazoo via exchange for a combination of shares of Listco and cash consideration and (iii) Listco would become tax resident in the United Kingdom following the consummation of the Transaction.

Pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, (a) on August 23, 2021 (the “Listco Closing Date”), MaplesFS Limited, a company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, as the sole shareholder of Listco (“MaplesFS Limited”), transferred to Ajax all of the issued and outstanding equity securities of Listco and, as a result of such transfer, Listco became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ajax, (b) Ajax, as the sole shareholder of Listco, adopted Listco’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (the “Articles”) (which became effective as of the closing of the Transaction on August 26, 2021 (the “Closing”)) and (c) on August 24, 2021, Ajax merged with and into Listco, with Listco continuing as the surviving entity (the “Merger” and, together with the other transactions contemplated by the foregoing, the “Reorganization”). At the Closing, pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, and subject to the terms and conditions therein, Listco acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of Cazoo (the “Cazoo Shares”) from the holders thereof (the “Cazoo Shareholders”).

In connection with the Merger, each Ajax unit (an “Ajax Unit”) (consisting of one Ajax Class A ordinary share, par value $0.0001 per share (an “Ajax Class A Share”), and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant of Ajax, each whole warrant exercisable to purchase one Ajax Class A Share for $11.50 per share (an “Ajax Warrant”)), Ajax Class A Share, Ajax Class B ordinary share, par value $0.0001 per share (an “Ajax Class B Share” and, together with the Ajax Class A Shares, the “Ajax Ordinary Shares”), and Ajax Warrant issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Merger was cancelled in exchange for one Listco unit (a “Unit”) (consisting of one Class A ordinary share, par value $0.0001 per share (a “Class A Share”), and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant of Listco, each whole warrant exercisable to purchase one Class A Share for $11.50 per share (a “Warrant”)), Class A Share, Class B ordinary share, par value $0.0001 per share (a “Class B Share”), and Warrant, respectively. Effective as of the Closing, (a) the issued and outstanding Class B Shares converted automatically on a one-for-one basis into Class A Shares, and (b) each issued and outstanding Unit automatically separated into its component parts.

Upon Closing, the Company acquired the Cazoo Shares for a combination of 640,924,026 Class C ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class C Shares” and, together with the Class A Shares and the Class B Shares, the “Ordinary Shares”), and aggregate cash consideration of approximately $77,216,042. On February 26, 2022, the Class C Shares automatically converted into Class A Shares on a one-for-one basis in accordance with the Articles.

Concurrently with the execution and delivery of the Business Combination Agreement, Listco, Ajax and certain investors, including Ajax’s sponsor, Ajax I Holdings, LLC (the “Sponsor”), and Ajax’s directors and officers (collectively, the “PIPE Investors”), entered into Subscription Agreements, pursuant to which, the PIPE Investors purchased, concurrently with the closing of the Transaction, in the aggregate, 80,000,000 Class A Shares for $10.00 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $800,000,000 (the “PIPE Investment”).

Upon consummation of the Transaction, shareholders of Ajax and Cazoo became shareholders of Listco, and Listco changed its name to “Cazoo Group Ltd.” The Class A Shares are listed on the NYSE under the symbol “CZOO.”

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 20-F (including information incorporated by reference herein, the “Annual Report”) contains or may contain forward-looking statements as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), that do not directly or exclusively relate to historical facts. You should not place undue reliance on such statements because they are subject to numerous uncertainties and factors relating to our operations and business environment, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. Forward-looking statements include information concerning our possible or assumed future results of operations, including descriptions of our business strategy. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as “believe,” “anticipate,” “could,” “may,” “would,” “should,” “intend,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “forecast,” “will,” “expect,” “budget,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “continue,” “project,” “positioned,” “strategy,” “outlook” and similar expressions. You should read statements that contain these words carefully because they:

All such forward-looking statements involve estimates and assumptions that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed in the statements. We believe it is important to communicate our expectations to our security holders. However, there may be events in the future that we are not able to predict accurately or over which we have no control. The risk factors and cautionary language discussed in this registration statement provide examples of risks, uncertainties and events that may cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations described by us in such forward-looking statements, including among other things:

These and other factors are more fully discussed in the “Risk Factors” section and elsewhere in this Annual Report. These risks could cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report.

All forward-looking statements included herein attributable to us or any person acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Except to the extent required by applicable laws and regulations, we undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Annual Report or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

FREQUENTLY USED TERMS

Unless otherwise indicated and unless the context otherwise requires, “we,” “us,” “our” or the “Company” refers to Cazoo Group Ltd, a Cayman Islands exempted company, and its subsidiaries subsequent to the Transaction and to Capri Listco prior to the closing of the Transaction. Unless otherwise indicated and unless the context otherwise requires, “Cazoo” refers to Cazoo Group Ltd and its subsidiaries subsequent to the Transaction and Cazoo Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries prior to the closing of the Transaction.

Unless otherwise stated in this Annual Report, reference to:

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT IFRS AND NON-IFRS FINANCIAL MEASURES

Our financial statements are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. We refer in various places within this Annual Report to Adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-IFRS measure that is more fully explained in “Item 5 ⸺ Operating and Financial Review and Prospects.” The presentation of this non-IFRS information is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for our consolidated financial results prepared in accordance with IFRS.

MARKET AND INDUSTRY DATA

Certain industry data and market data included in this Annual Report were obtained from independent third-party surveys, market research, publicly available information, reports of governmental agencies, and industry publications and surveys. All of the market data used in this Annual Report involves a number of assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such estimates. We believe that the information from these industry publications and surveys included in this Annual Report is reliable and is based on the good faith estimates of our management. The industry in which we operate is subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in “Item 3.D ⸺ Risk Factors.” These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates made by the independent parties and by us.

PART I

ITEM 1. IDENTITY OF DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND ADVISERS

A. Directors and Senior Management

Not applicable.

B. Advisers

Not applicable.

C. Auditors

Not applicable.

ITEM 2. OFFER STATISTICS AND EXPECTED TIMETABLE

Not applicable.

ITEM 3. KEY INFORMATION

A. [Reserved]

B. Capitalization and Indebtedness

Not applicable.

C. Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

D. Risk Factors

An investment in our securities carries a significant degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following risks and other information in this Annual Report, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes included herein, in connection with your ownership of our securities. If any of the events described below occur, our business and financial results could be adversely affected in a material way. This could cause the trading price of our securities to decline, perhaps significantly, and you therefore may lose all or part of your investment. The risks set out below are not exhaustive and do not comprise all of the risks associated with an investment in the Company. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or which we currently deem immaterial may also have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

Summary Risk Factors

The following is a summary of certain, but not all, of the risks that could adversely affect our business, operations and financial results. If any of the risks actually occur, our business could be materially impaired, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. 

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

Risks Relating to our Business and Industry

Our limited operating history makes it difficult to evaluate our current business and future prospects

We first began operations in December 2019 and therefore do not have a long history as a commercial company. Our business has evolved rapidly as we have developed our product offering and brand and we have revised our strategy. Given our limited operating history, it is difficult to predict whether we will be able to maintain or grow our business. We also expect that our business will evolve in ways that may be difficult to predict. Following our launch in December 2019 we began expanding our storage and vehicle preparation centers, the products and services we provide and our digital platform and distribution infrastructure. On June 7, 2022, we announced our business realignment plan, which was designed to de-risk our path to profitability and to maximize our liquidity by right-sizing the business and conserving cash in the short-term, and by focusing on delivering improved and sustainable profit margins (the “Business Realignment Plan”). On September 8, 2022, following the review of a range of strategic options, we concluded that we would focus exclusively on our core opportunity in the UK. We have commenced an orderly wind down of our operations in Europe, having sold our operations in Spain, Italy and Germany and largely wound down our operations in France. On January 18, 2023 we announced our Revised 2023 Plan, which is aimed at improving the unit economics of the business and has resulted in the closure of certain of our vehicle preparation centers, customer centers and offices and significant headcount reductions (the “Revised 2023 Plan” together with the “Business Realignment Plan” and the winddown of operations in Europe are collectively referred to as the “Revised Business Plans”)

The rapid evolution our business and strategy has and continues to expose us to various costs and risks, including additional administration and operating expenses and risks, potential disruption of our internal operations, additional demands on management time, the introduction of errors or vulnerabilities and other risks and costs of delays. We may not succeed in successfully implementing our strategy or in appropriately mitigating all of these risks. As a result, our operating results are not predictable, and our historical results may not be indicative of our future results.

As a result of our Business Realignment Plan, the winddown of operations in mainland Europe and the recently announced Revised 2023 Plan, our strategy has shifted from seeking to maximize our market share in the UK and mainland Europe to focusing on the UK market only and pursuing improved unit economics. We may have difficulties implementing our strategy in the UK, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations

On June 7, 2022, we announced the Business Realignment Plan, which was designed to de-risk our path to profitability and to maximize our liquidity. On September 8, 2022, we announced the winddown of operations in mainland Europe and, on January 18, 2023, we announced our Revised 2023 Plan which is intended to rapidly improve the unit economics of the business. Accordingly, our strategy will no longer seek to achieve maximum market penetration in the UK and mainland Europe. Our ability to pursue our development objectives will depend on our success in carrying out our strategy of improving our unit economics in the UK market only.

A number of factors may affect the achievement of our strategy, including, among others, the implementation of our Revised Business Plans, demand for our vehicles, our ability to locate suitable inventory, our ability to grow organically, our ability to obtain funding and macroeconomic trends. We may not be able to fulfill our strategy in the near term or at all. We will have to react and adapt to the changing business environment, including the emergence of competitors with digital platforms that are similar to our platform. We may be unable to achieve improved unit economics while maintaining the quality and efficiency of our customers’ car-buying and selling experience. See “— If we are unable to adapt to and satisfy customer demands in a timely and cost-effective manner, our ability to improve our unit economics may suffer” below. In addition, the time required to implement the Revised Business Plans could divert management’s attention from other business concerns.

If we fail to realize our strategic objectives in full or in part and in a timely manner, or if the underlying assumptions on which such objectives are based prove to be incorrect, our ability to improve our unit economics as well as our ability to respond to competitive pressures could suffer, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. The Revised Business Plans focus on:

The Revised Business Plans, and the Revised 2023 Plan in particular, are based on our current estimates, assumptions and forecasts, which are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including assumptions regarding cost savings, cash burn rate, improvements in gross profits per unit, customer demand and a reduction in operating expenses. Accordingly, we may not be able to fully realize the benefit of the cost savings and other benefits anticipated from the Revised Business Plans. Additionally, implementation of the Revised Business Plans may be costly and disruptive to our business, the expected costs and charges may be greater than we anticipate, and the estimated cost savings may be lower than we have forecasted. In addition, our initiatives could result in personnel attrition beyond our planned reduction in headcount, which could in turn adversely impact productivity, including through a loss of continuity, loss of accumulated knowledge and/or inefficiency during transitional periods, or our ability to attract highly skilled employees. Unfavorable publicity about us or the Revised Business Plans could result in reputational harm and could diminish confidence in our brand and business model. The Revised Business Plans have required, and may continue to require, a significant amount of management’s and other employees’ time and focus, which may divert attention from effectively operating and growing our business.

We have a history of losses and we may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future

We have not been profitable since we began operations in December 2019 and had an accumulated loss of approximately £1,279 million as of December 31, 2022. Although we intend to reduce operating expenses and take other initiatives through implementation of our Revised Business Plans, we expect to continue to incur losses. These expense reductions, initiatives and further investments may not achieve the anticipated results and as such we cannot guarantee we will become cash-flow breakeven or achieve profit at all in the business generally.

We may continue to incur losses in the future for a number of reasons, some of which are outside of our control, including our inability to reduce costs and increase per unit profitability as contemplated under our Revised Business Plans, slower than anticipated adoption of online channels for car buying, slower than anticipated demand for car purchases and our related products and services, increased competition, weakness in the automotive retail industry generally, our ability to source appropriate inventory, and a decline in global financial conditions that negatively impacts economic activity and employment. We may also encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications and delays in generating revenues or profitability. If our rate of generating revenues slows beyond what is expected in our business plan, we may not be able to reduce costs further in a timely manner. In addition, if we further reduce variable costs to respond to losses, this may limit our ability to improve unit economics.

Accordingly, we may not achieve or maintain profitability and may continue to incur significant losses in the future, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

In response to the risks and uncertainties described above, we may seek to secure additional outside capital over the next 12 months beyond the date hereof. While we have historically been successful in our ability to secure outside capital, as of the date hereof, we had no firm commitments of additional outside capital. We can provide no assurance we will be able to continue to secure outside capital in the future or do so on terms that are acceptable to us. Furthermore, we also plan to continue to closely monitor our cash flows and, if necessary, we may implement certain incremental cost savings to preserve our liquidity beyond those being implemented through the Revised Business Plans. While we currently expect we will have sufficient liquidity to fund our operations for the next twelve months beyond the date hereof, we can provide no assurance we will successfully generate such liquidity, or if necessary, secure additional outside capital or achieve incremental cost savings.

As part of our Revised Business Plans we have shifted our focus from maximizing growth to improving our unit economics. No assurance can be given that we will succeed in achieving any improvement in our unit economics

Following our launch in December 2019 we began expanding and we focused on increasing revenue and market share. We now intend to focus on achieving higher margins, improving our product mix and reducing our cost base with the aim of further improving our unit economics and maximizing our cash runway. As a result our revenues may decline. Under our Revised 2023 Plan, we intend to reduce the rate of unit sales to focus on improving gross profit per unit and working capital, by among other things, lowering our operating expenses, rationalizing our footprint, reducing our headcount and implementing other initiatives. There can be no assurance that this strategy of reducing revenue growth to focus on profitability will be successful. We believe that our ability to improve unit economics will depend, among other factors, on our ability to:

We may not meet these objectives, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our audited consolidated financial statements include a note regarding substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern

As set forth in Note 2.7 of the audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report, we have determined that, in a downside scenario, certain inherent uncertainties in forecasting operating performance, including gross profit margin, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern, due to the risk that we may not have sufficient cash and liquid assets at December 31, 2022 to cover our operating and capital requirements for the period through to April 30, 2024; and if sufficient cash cannot be obtained, we would have to substantially alter, or possibly even discontinue, operations.

As of December 31, 2022 we had cash and cash equivalents of £258.3 million. We believe that our cash on hand, and available borrowing capacity under stocking loans and borrowings, will be adequate to meet our liquidity requirements for at least the twelve months following the date of this Form 20-F.

We have adopted a plan (the “2023 budget”) designed to allow us to focus on unit economics through higher margin, faster moving inventory and rationalization of our operational footprint. In line with the lower unit expectations for 2023 and the current economic climate, the 2023 budget includes the closure of certain vehicle preparation centers and customer centers, and further headcount reductions, which are already underway. The 2023 budget is expected to deliver a significant reduction in our cash consumption and continued progress towards our goal of reaching profitability, without the need to raise further external funding until H2 2024.

The 2023 budget includes actions to increase liquidity such as a prospective sale and leaseback of owned property, the continued financing of UK retail inventory and the unwinding of the UK subscriptions business to realize cash from subscription vehicles in property, plant and equipment.

Given the stage of evolution of our Company, there are certain inherent uncertainties in forecasting operating performance, including gross profit margin, as well as cash flows. Our ability to satisfy our current liabilities and maintain daily liquidity is dependent on successful execution of our 2023 budget.

We cannot assure you that we will succeed in implementing the 2023 budget or, that if implemented, the 2023 budget will be successful in improving our unit economics and financial outlook. The identification of a substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern could adversely affect our ability to obtain additional financing on favorable terms, if at all, and may cause investors to have reservations about our long-term prospects and may adversely affect our relationships with suppliers. If we cannot successfully continue as a going concern, our investors may lose a large proportion of or even their entire investment.

At such time as we may require additional capital to pursue our business objectives and respond to business opportunities, challenges or unforeseen circumstances, such capital may not be available to us, and therefore our business, operating results and financial condition may be materially adversely affected

In the future we will need to engage in equity or debt financings to secure additional funds. However, additional funds may not be available when we need them, on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. Under the terms of the Indenture governing the Convertible Notes, we are obligated to ratably guarantee and/or secure the Convertible Notes, as applicable, with guarantees or security provided at any time for the benefit of certain other indebtedness of the Company for borrowed money issued or incurred in the future, other than indebtedness incurred to purchase, finance or refinance the purchase of vehicles, vehicle parts, supplies and inventory, sale leasebacks and certain other indebtedness, which may negatively impact our ability to incur debt in the future, as well as the cost of any such debt. In addition, any debt financing that we secure in the future could involve restrictive covenants which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities. Volatility in the credit markets may also have an adverse effect on our ability to obtain debt or equity financing. If we raise additional funds through further issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, our existing shareholders could suffer significant dilution, and any new equity securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges superior to those of holders of our Class A Shares. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us when required, our ability to continue to pursue our business objectives and to respond to business opportunities, challenges or unforeseen circumstances could be significantly limited, and this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We rely, or may rely in the future, on various of forms of debt financing to operate our business, including car financing facilities, mortgage debt, capital leases and syndicated loans, and there is no guarantee that such financing will be available in the future on acceptable terms, or at all. In addition, our leverage from any such facilities could adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

As of December 31, 2022, we had approximately £240 million in committed car financing facilities to finance purchasing of our inventory with a total of four lenders. These facilities have no fixed end date but are subject to annual review. There are no financial covenants attached to these facilities. Certain facilities have triggers to revise the loan-to-value terms if cash falls below a certain level. We are proactively managing our number of available facilities to reflect the lower unit volume we anticipate in 2023. If availability under these facilities was reduced, we could choose to cash finance inventory in the short-term, or to reduce overall levels of inventory held.

We may in the future seek to refinance our existing debt, or incur new debt to, among other things, finance our continuing operations, including our inventory purchases. However, we may be unable to extend these agreements on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. If the agreements are terminated or expire and are not renewed, or if we are unable to find satisfactory replacements, whether because of our financial and operating performance or for other reasons, our inventory supply may decline, resulting in fewer vehicles available for sale on our website. New funding arrangements may include higher interest rates or other less favorable terms. No assurance can be given that financing will be available in the future on terms acceptable to us, or at all. These financing risks, in addition to rising interest rates and changes in market conditions, if realized, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

If we increase our indebtedness, that will pose additional risks to our business. A high degree of leverage could have important consequences to us. For example, it could:

Adverse developments affecting the financial services industry, such as actual events or concerns involving liquidity, defaults or non-performance by financial institutions or transactional counterparties, could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Actual events involving limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance or other adverse developments that affect financial institutions, transactional counterparties or other companies in the financial services industry or the financial services industry generally, or concerns or rumors about any events of these kinds or other similar risks, have in the past and may in the future lead to market-wide liquidity problems. For example, on March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”), as receiver. Similarly, on March 12, 2023, Signature Bank and Silvergate Capital Corp. were each swept into receivership. On March 19, 2023, Credit Suisse and UBS entered into a merger agreement following the intervention of the Swiss Federal Department of Finance, the Swiss National Bank and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA. There can be no assurance that there will not be additional bank failures or issues in the broader financial system, which may have an impact on the broader capital markets and, in turn, our ability to access those markets. In addition, if any parties with whom we conduct business are unable to access funds pursuant to lending arrangements with a closed financial institution, such parties’ ability to pay their obligations to us or to enter into new commercial arrangements requiring additional payments to us could be adversely affected.

We may be unable to generate sufficient cash to fulfill our obligations under our indebtedness, and we may be unable to incur additional indebtedness to fund future needs

As of December 31, 2022, we had indebtedness outstanding with a carrying amount of £531 million, which included £162 million related to stocking loans, £15 million related to subscription facilities and £349 million related to the Convertible Notes and embedded derivative. Our interest expense resulting from indebtedness outstanding from time to time was £53 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. We intend to continue to evaluate entering into additional stocking facilities or other loans to finance our inventory.

Our ability to make payments on and refinance our current or future debt will depend on our ability to generate cash in the future from operations, financings or asset sales, and is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors that we cannot control. If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations we may be forced to sell assets, seek additional capital or take other disadvantageous actions, including reducing financing in the future for working capital, capital expenditures and other general corporate purposes or dedicating an unsustainable level of our cash flow from operations to the payment of principal and interest on our indebtedness. The lenders or other investors who hold debt that we fail to service or on which we otherwise default could also accelerate amounts due, which could in such an instance potentially trigger a default or acceleration of other debt we may incur. Any refinancing or replacement of our existing debt could be at higher interest rates and may require it to comply with more onerous covenants, which could further restrict our business operations. The terms of existing or future debt instruments may restrict us from adopting some of these alternatives.

We may not have the ability to repurchase the Convertible Notes upon a fundamental change or repay the Convertible Notes in cash at their maturity, and our future debt may contain limitations on our ability to pay cash upon conversion, redemption or repurchase of the Convertible Notes

Holders of the Convertible Notes have the right to require us to repurchase for cash all or a portion of their Convertible Notes at 100% of their principal amount, plus any accrued and unpaid interest, upon the occurrence of a Fundamental Change (as defined in the Indenture). We are also required to increase the conversion rate for holders who convert their Convertible Notes in connection with a Fundamental Change prior to the maturity date. We will be required to repay the Convertible Notes in cash at their maturity, unless earlier converted, redeemed or repurchased. In addition, as more fully described in “Item 10.C — Material Contracts — Indenture,” we may be required, under certain circumstances, to make a payment of premium to holders at maturity of the Convertible Notes equal to 50% of the principal amount of the Convertible Notes. The premium is payable in cash, Class A Shares, or a combination of cash and Class A Shares at our option. We may not have enough available cash or be able to obtain financing at such time as we are required to make any repurchases of Convertible Notes surrendered or to repay principal at maturity or pay required premium.

In addition, our ability to repurchase the Convertible Notes or to repay principal at maturity or pay required premium may be limited by law, regulatory authority, or agreements governing our future indebtedness. Our failure to repurchase the Convertible Notes at a time when the repurchase is required by the Indenture or to repay principal at maturity or pay required premium as required by the Indenture would constitute a default under the Indenture. A default under the Indenture or the Fundamental Change itself could also lead to a default under agreements governing our future indebtedness. If the payment of the related indebtedness were to be accelerated after any applicable notice or grace periods, we may not have sufficient funds to repay the interest on such indebtedness and repurchase the Convertible Notes or to repay principal at maturity or pay required premium.

As of March 20, 2023 we understand from public filings that certain of the holders of the Convertible Notes entered into a cooperation agreement to engage in discussions with the Company concerning a potential financing, recapitalization, asset or equity sale, reorganization and/or restructuring transaction or series of such transactions or alternative extraordinary transactions involving the Company. There is no assurance that any such discussions will occur with the Company or result in any of the foregoing.

Our ability to improve the profitability of our complementary service offerings may be limited, which could negatively impact our revenues and financial performance

We may be unable to improve the profitability of our complementary service offerings. We may not successfully demonstrate the value of such products and services to consumers, and pricing, commission and attachment rates may not improve. Failure to do so would compromise our ability to achieve increasing profitability rates on these products and services over time. Any of these risks, if realized, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our business is subject to risks related to the larger automotive ecosystem, including consumer demand, the shift to electric vehicles, global supply chain challenges and other macroeconomic issues

Our business may be negatively affected by challenges to the larger automotive ecosystem, including urbanization, global supply chain challenges and other macroeconomic issues. The shift to electric vehicles as a result of government mandates and consumer preferences may result in a dislocation in the supply of suitable vehicles in the medium term as there may be fewer used electric vehicles available. New technologies such as autonomous driving software also have the potential to change the dynamics of car ownership in the future. A decline in the volume of new cars would result in a decline in the supply of used cars over time and could impact pricing of used cars. For example, a number of OEMs have experienced new car production disruptions caused by an ongoing global shortage of automobile microchips, which resulted in a decline in the supply of new vehicles, which in turn resulted in a decline in the supply of used vehicles due to a lack of turnover in the automotive retail market. The Russia Ukraine conflict has contributed to shortages in materials and increased costs for transportation, energy and raw material, particularly with respect to raw materials extracted from, or components produced in, Russia or Ukraine, which are important to the vehicle manufacturing industry including the production of electric vehicle batteries. Rising gasoline prices may also change consumer behavior in ways that adversely impact us, including by decreasing demand for cars and by increasing demand for electric vehicles, which could affect our vehicle sales and valuations. In addition, manufacturer recalls are a common occurrence. Recalls and a scrutiny surrounding selling used vehicles with open safety recalls could adversely affect used vehicle sales or valuations, could cause us to temporarily remove vehicles from inventory, sell affected vehicles at a loss, incur increased costs and could expose us to litigation and adverse publicity related to the sale of recalled vehicles. See “— Our business is sensitive to conditions affecting automotive manufacturers, including manufacturer recalls and potential financial issues” below.

Demand for vehicle purchases may be adversely impacted by international, national and local economic conditions and travel demand. When travel demand or economic conditions weaken, our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely impacted. Consumer purchases of vehicles generally decline during recessionary periods and other periods in which disposable income is adversely affected. Purchases of vehicles may be affected by negative trends in the UK economy and other factors, including rising interest rates, rising vehicle prices, the cost of energy and gasoline, any significant increases in fuel prices, any protracted disruption in fuel supplies or rationing of fuel, the availability and cost of credit, reductions in business and consumer confidence, stock market volatility, increased regulation, increased unemployment and the impact of any recession. See “— Continued downturns in general economic and market conditions and reductions in spending may reduce demand for our products” below.

Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Continued downturns in general economic and market conditions and reductions in spending may reduce demand for our products

Our revenues, results of operations and cash flows depend on the overall demand for our cars, services and products. Negative conditions in the general economy, including conditions resulting from changes in gross domestic product growth, rising interest rates, financial and credit market fluctuations construction slowdowns, energy costs, international trade relations and other geopolitical issues, including those caused or may be caused by the Russia Ukraine conflict, and the availability and cost of credit could cause a decrease in consumer discretionary spending and business investment and diminish growth expectations. Moreover, government consumption or socio-economic policies or objectives could potentially impact the demand for our goods and services.

Global inflation also increased during 2022. The Russia Ukraine conflict and other geopolitical conflicts, as well as the related international response, has exacerbated inflationary pressures, including causing increases in the price for goods and services and global supply chain disruptions, which has resulted and may continue to result in shortages in materials and services. Such shortages have resulted and may continue to result in inflationary cost increases for labor, fuel, materials and services, and could continue to cause costs to increase as well as result in the scarcity of certain materials. We cannot predict any future trends in the rate of inflation or other negative economic factors or associated increases in our operating costs and how any such trends may impact our business. To the extent we are unable to recover higher operating costs resulting from inflation or otherwise mitigate the impact of such costs on our business, our revenues and gross profit per unit could decrease, and our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Economic slowdowns in the past have significantly affected the automotive and related markets. Consumer purchases of vehicles generally decline during recessionary periods and other periods in which disposable income is adversely affected. Purchases of vehicles may be affected by negative trends in the UK economy. Periods of deteriorating general economic conditions may result in a significant reduction in car sales, which may negatively affect our profitability and put downward pressure on our product and service prices and volumes. Economic slowdowns may lead to reduced sales of new vehicles, which may in turn reduce the supply of suitable used vehicles.

Downturns in general economic conditions may also materially affect our third-party suppliers. Adverse economic conditions may cause suppliers to be unable to meet their commitments to us, which could limit our ability to purchase or recondition sufficient numbers of cars to meet demand, or our ability to purchase or recondition any cars at all. Our suppliers may also seek to reduce their costs in response to adverse economic conditions, which could reduce the quality of their products or services, which, in turn, could damage our reputation.

Any of these events or occurrences could cause consumer confidence and spending to decrease, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our geographic concentration in the UK creates an exposure to severe weather, the local economy, regional downturns, or catastrophic occurrences in the UK that may materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations

As a result of the UK focus of our business, we are subject to risks related to downturns in the economy as well as downturns in the market for our products and services in the UK. In addition, the geographic concentration of our business in the UK exposes us to risks related to regional specific legislation, taxes and disasters such as earthquakes or floods, which could disproportionately affect us and our financial performance. Furthermore, the future effects of Brexit are still currently unknown and Brexit may continue to lead to uncertainty and potentially divergent national laws and regulations (including financial laws and regulations, tax and free trade agreements, immigration laws and employment laws). As such, the legal, political and economic relationship with the EU may continue to be a source of instability in international markets, create significant currency fluctuations or otherwise adversely affect trading agreements or similar cross-border cooperation arrangements (whether economic, tax, fiscal, legal, regulatory or otherwise) for the foreseeable future and could adversely affect economic or market conditions in the UK. Any such event or occurrence could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may be unable to attract a sufficient audience to our website in a cost-effective manner

Our success will depend, in part, on our ability to continue to attract users to our website in a cost-effective manner. Although, in 2022, we made substantial investments in advertising and public relations campaigns in order to raise awareness of, and direct traffic to, our website, our efforts may not continue to be successful. Furthermore, as part of the Revised Business Plans, we have lowered our brand marketing spend and continue to focus on maximizing our cash runway. As a result, we may not continue to make sufficient investments in our advertising and public relation campaigns to attract an adequate audience to our website. Factors important to maintaining the audience to our website include our ability to:

In addition, our future success depends, in part, on our ability to provide adequate functionality for visitors who use mobile devices to search for and purchase cars and the number of transactions that are completed by those users. In the year ended December 31, 2022, approximately 80% of unique visitors to our website were attributable to mobile devices. This is consistent with prior years. The online market for purchasing vehicles is significantly less developed than the online market for other goods and services such as books, music, travel and other consumer products. If the market for online vehicle transactions does not gain more widespread acceptance, or if we are unable to adequately address our customers’ desire to utilize mobile device technology, our business may suffer. Furthermore, a failure or inability to carry out sustained advertising and promotional expenditures or offer more incentives than we currently anticipate could mean that we are unable to attract consumers to our digital platform or to convert them into purchasing customers. Specific factors that could prevent consumers from purchasing vehicles through our digital platform include a preference for the ability to physically test-drive and examine vehicles, the confidence that can be provided in meeting the person who is selling the car, our ability to provide the same level of website functionality to a mobile device that we provide on a desktop computer, the actual or perceived lack of security of information on a mobile device and possible disruptions of service or connectivity. In addition, we may not continue to innovate and introduce enhanced products that can be suitably conveyed on mobile platforms. Any failure to properly manage these factors could negatively affect our brands and reputation or our ability to attract and retain users.

Our business is dependent upon access to suitable vehicle inventory, including the appropriate inventory mix, for resale to customers. Obstacles to acquiring suitable inventory for resale to customers, whether because of supply, competition, or other factors, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects

We acquire cars for sale through numerous sources, including from used-car auctions, corporate suppliers including vehicle finance, leasing, rental companies and OEMs, as well as directly from consumers and from subscription agreements as our remaining subscription contracts terminate. The supply of suitable vehicles may not be sufficient to meet our needs and the vehicles may not be available at prices or on terms acceptable to us. For example, any reduction in the volume of new cars could negatively impact the supply of cars for our business. OEMs continue to report new car production disruptions caused by various factors including an ongoing global shortage of automobile microchips. This disruption resulted in and could in the future continue to result in a decline in the supply of new vehicles, which has in turn resulted in and could in the future result in a decline in the supply of used vehicles due to a lack of turnover in the automotive retail market. The decline in the supply of new vehicles has resulted in used car pricing increasing significantly. In addition, suppliers may also choose to provide our competitors with certain vehicles or may prefer working with our competitors over us, limiting our ability to obtain inventory. Some of these factors could continue in the future. We have expanded the volume of vehicles we acquire from consumers through our direct car buying channel in 2022. This has allowed us to increase the availability of suitable vehicle inventory at attractive commercial rates. However, this channel may not continue to be successful or commercially viable or may not be sustainable in the context of the associated capital overhead. A reduction in the availability of or access to sources of inventory, whether due to supply chain constraints, geopolitical events, or otherwise, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

In addition, the shift to electric vehicles as a result of government mandates and consumer preferences may result in a dislocation in the supply of suitable vehicles in the medium term, as used electric vehicles may not achieve wide consumer acceptance as a result of actual or perceived limitations on battery life or other concerns. New technologies, such as autonomous driving software, also have the potential to change the dynamics of car ownership in the future and could reduce the demand for both new and used cars. A decline in the volumes of new cars would result in a decline in the supply of used vehicles over time.

We evaluate thousands of potential cars to purchase daily using proprietary algorithms to determine appropriate appraisals based on a variety of factors including age, condition, consumer desirability and relative value as prospective inventory. Our failure to adjust appraisals to stay in line with broader market trends or failure to recognize those trends, could adversely affect our ability to acquire inventory. In addition, if our appraisals are too high, we may be unable to generate sufficient profit or any profit on the sale of our vehicles. Our ability to source vehicles could also be affected by competition, which may have the effect of increasing prices for and decreasing the availability of used vehicles.

A reduction in the availability of suitable vehicle inventory for any of the above reasons, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our business is dependent on the image and reputation of our brand

Our financial performance is influenced by the image, perception and recognition of the Cazoo brand. We need to maintain, protect, and enhance our brand in order to attract users to our website and increase their engagement with our website. This, in turn, depends on many factors such as the quality of the vehicles available for sale and the services provided, the level of customer service and advice, the efficiency of our delivery services and our communication activities including advertising, public relations, marketing and our general corporate and market profile. As part of the Revised Business Plans, we have begun to reduce our brand marketing spend and expect to further reduce our performance marketing spend, and this reduction could impede our ability to maintain user engagement or respond to threats to our reputation. If we fail to maintain the standards on which our reputation is built, or if an event occurs that damages this reputation, such as accidents in or malfunctions related to Cazoo vehicles or services, consumer demand could be adversely affected, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, sales and results of operations. Even the perception of a decrease in the quality of our vehicles, customer service or brand could impact results.

Complaints or negative publicity about our business practices, the quality of our vehicles or services, our marketing and advertising campaigns, compliance with applicable laws and regulations, the integrity of the vehicle data that we provide to users, data privacy, environmental and social, governance, health and safety, driver and vehicle standards, and security issues, and other aspects of our business, especially on blogs and social media websites, and irrespective of their validity, could diminish customer confidence in our platform and adversely affect the Cazoo brand. The growing use of social media increases the speed with which information and opinions can be shared and thus the speed with which reputation can be affected. While we may choose to engage in marketing campaigns to promote our brands, these efforts may not be successful. Our failure to correct or mitigate misinformation or negative information about us, the vehicles we sell or purchase, our customer experience, or any aspect of our brand, including information spread through social media or traditional media channels, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

The success of our business relies heavily on the effectiveness of our marketing and branding efforts, and these efforts may not be successful

We are a consumer brand; we rely heavily on effective marketing and advertising to sustain brand visibility with potential customers. We recorded marketing expenses of £63 million in the year ended December 31, 2022. As part of our Revised Business Plans, we have reduced and intend to continue reducing certain types of marketing (such as TV and radio advertisements, and sponsorships) as well as performance marketing spend. This reduction may affect our ability to sustain brand visibility, which could have a negative effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are also heavily reliant on our website, which needs to evolve as our business matures. In the future, we may not be able to maintain the level of capital expenditures necessary to support the improvement or upgrading of our website in a timely manner or at all. If we are unable to recover marketing costs through increases in customer traffic and in the number of transactions by users of our platform, or if our broad marketing campaigns are not successful or are terminated, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We rely on search engines and vehicle listings sites to help drive traffic to our website, and if we fail to appear prominently in the search results or fail to drive traffic through paid advertising, our audience may decline and our business would be adversely affected

We depend in part on search engines and vehicle listings sites to drive traffic to our website. Our ability to maintain and increase the number of visitors directed to our website is not entirely within our control. A significant number of users access our website via links contained in search engines’ “natural” listings (i.e. listings not dependent on advertising or other payments). Search engines typically do not accept payments to rank websites in their natural listings and instead rely on algorithms to determine which websites are included and in what priority to order in the results of a search query. We endeavor to enhance the relevance of our website to common user search queries and thereby improve the rankings of our website in natural listings (a process known as “search engine optimization” or “SEO”). Search engines frequently modify their algorithms and ranking criteria to prevent their natural listings from being manipulated, which could impair our search engine optimization activities, in turn reducing new client acquisition and adversely affecting our operating results.

These algorithms and ranking criteria may be confidential or proprietary information, and we may not have complete information on the methods used to rank our website. If we are unable to quickly recognize and adapt our techniques to such modifications in search engine algorithms or if the effectiveness of our SEO activities is affected for any other reason, we could suffer a significant decrease in traffic to our website. Our website has experienced fluctuations in search result rankings in the past, and we anticipate similar fluctuations in the future.

Our competitors may increase their search engine optimization efforts and outbid us for placement on various vehicle listings sites or search terms on various search engines, resulting in their websites receiving a higher search result page ranking than Cazoo. Search engine providers could also provide automotive dealer and pricing information directly in search results and search engine providers or vehicle listings sites could align with our competitors or choose to develop competing services.

Further, a violation of a search engine’s terms of service may result in a website’s exclusion from that search engine’s natural listings. If a search engine were to modify our terms of service or interpret existing or modified terms of service in a manner such that our SEO practices were deemed to violate such terms, our website could be excluded from the search engine’s natural listings. Such exclusion could significantly affect our ability to direct traffic to our website.

Vehicle listings sites, such as Autotrader.co.uk, also direct users to our website via links from vehicles advertised on their sites. Should a vehicle listing site such as Autotrader cease to promote our vehicles for any reason, it could reduce new client acquisition and adversely affect our operating results.

If search engines modify their algorithms in ways that are detrimental to us, if vehicle listings sites are unwilling to display any or all of our inventory or if they significantly increase the cost of doing so, or if our competitors’ efforts are more successful than us, overall growth in our audience could slow or our customer base could decline.

Further, mobile operating system and web browser providers, such as Google, have announced product changes to limit the ability of advertisers to collect and use data to target and measure advertising. Google intends to further restrict the use of third-party cookies in its Chrome browser in 2024, consistent with similar actions taken by the owners of other browsers, such as Apple in its Safari browser, and Mozilla in its Firefox browser. These changes may reduce our ability to efficiently target and measure advertising, in particular through online social networks, making our advertising less cost effective and successful. Any reduction in the number of users directed to our website through search engines or vehicle listings sites could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our business is dependent upon our ability to recondition and sell inventory expeditiously and efficiently

Our purchases of vehicles are based in large part on projected consumer demand. If actual sales are materially less than we forecast, we would experience an over-supply of vehicle inventory. An over-supply of vehicle inventory will generally cause downward pressure on product sales prices and margins and increase our average days to sale. Vehicle inventory represents a significant portion of our total assets, accounting for £233 million, or approximately 27% of our total assets, as of December 31, 2022. Having such a large portion of total assets in the form of inventory for an extended period subjects us to depreciation, inflation and other risks that affect our results of operations. Vehicles can depreciate rapidly and therefore a failure to sell our inventory expeditiously or to recondition and deliver vehicles efficiently to customers could adversely impact our gross profit per unit. If we have excess inventory or our average days to sale increases, we may be unable to liquidate such inventory at prices that allow us to meet margin targets or to recover our costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Conversely if our customer demand exceeds our capacity to purchase and recondition our used vehicle inventory this could result in lower inventory levels, leading to lower conversion rates. Following the announcement of our Revised 2023 Plan, we have begun to rationalize our footprint, including through reducing the number of vehicle preparation centers we operate. As a result of this reduction, our reconditioning capacity will decline and our operations may experience periods of inefficiency, which could have a negative impact on our gross profit per unit.

Any disruption of our ability to recondition our vehicles in an expeditious and efficient manner could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Vehicle retail sales depend heavily on affordable interest rates and availability of credit for vehicle financing and a substantial increase in interest rates could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows

If interest rates continue to rise, market rates for vehicle financing will generally be expected to rise as well, which may make our vehicles less affordable to customers or steer customers to less expensive vehicles that would be less profitable for us, adversely affecting our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, if consumer interest rates increase substantially or if financial service providers tighten lending standards or restrict their lending to certain classes of credit, customers may not desire or be able to obtain financing to purchase our vehicles. As a result, a substantial increase in customer interest rates or tightening of lending standards could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

Our business is sensitive to changes in the prices of new and used vehicles

Any significant changes in retail prices for new or used vehicles could have a material adverse effect on our revenues and results of operations. For example, an overall increase in prices for used vehicles may make it difficult for certain customers to afford to purchase a vehicle. Similarly, if retail prices for used vehicles rise relative to retail prices for new vehicles, it could make buying new vehicles more attractive to our customers than buying used vehicles, which could result in reduced used-car sales and lower revenues. Manufacturer incentives could contribute to narrowing the price gap between new and used vehicles. In addition, supply chain issues impacted new vehicle production throughout 2022 and may continue in the future. See “— Our business is subject to risks related to the larger automotive ecosystem, including consumer demand, the shift to electric vehicles, global supply chain challenges and other macroeconomic issues.” As a result of these factors, automotive vehicle pricing and demand continues to be difficult to predict, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Used vehicle prices may also decline for a variety of reasons including an increase in supply due to an increased number of new vehicle lease returns over the next several years. While lower used vehicle prices reduce the cost of acquiring new inventory, lower prices could also lead to reductions in the value of inventory we currently hold, which could result in impairments to our assets and have a negative impact on gross profit. Furthermore, any significant changes in wholesale prices for used vehicles could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

If we are unable to adapt to and satisfy customer demands in a timely and cost-effective manner, our ability to improve our unit economics may suffer

The success of our business depends in part on effectively managing and maintaining sales of our vehicle inventory and related products and services, and providing customers with a car buying experience that meets or exceeds their expectations. If for any reason we are unable to do so in a timely and cost-effective manner, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

If our products and services do not meet expected performance or quality standards, including with respect to customer safety and satisfaction, this could adversely affect consumer demand. In addition, the volume of customer service requests before and after delivery limits our service capacity and may prevent us from retailing service plans to customers effectively. The changes to our footprint and headcount announced as part of the Revised 2023 Plan may negatively impact our ability to serve customers while maintaining the quality and efficiency of our customers’ car-buying experience. If the demand for our used cars exceeds our ability to recondition cars, we may be unable to meet customer demand and may have to decrease our range of brands and models for sale. This could adversely impact our reputation, customer demand for our vehicles and our competitive position.

If we cannot maintain the quality and efficiency of our customers’ car-buying experience or the quality of the vehicles we sell, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

The disposals resulting from the winddown in Europe and other strategic decisions that we may take could have a negative effect on our results of operations

We may divest assets or otherwise discontinue businesses that are no longer a part of our strategy. For example, on September 8, 2022, we announced a plan to wind down our operations in Europe, and since then we have announced the sales of our Spanish, Italian and German businesses. Divestitures or other similar strategic endeavors require significant investment of time and resources, may disrupt our business and distract management from other responsibilities and may result in losses on disposition or continued financial involvement in the divested business, including through indemnification or other financial arrangements, for a period following the transaction, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

An impairment of our goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets could have a material impact to our results of operations

On an annual basis as of December 31, and at interim periods when circumstances require as a result of a triggering event, we test the recoverability of our goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets by performing an impairment analysis. The value in use calculation involves judgment and estimates, including projected revenues, projected cash flows, long-term growth rates, and discount rates. A significant decline in any of the items used to determine the recoverable amount, as well as other triggering events, could result in a material impairment charge. For details of our annual impairment testing, see Note 16 of the audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report.

We operate in a competitive industry. Increased competition in online car sales could increase our marketing costs and affect our business, results of operations and prospects

The car retail market is highly competitive with respect to price, quality, service, location and vehicle offering. Our current and future competitors may include:

We also expect that new competitors will continue to enter the online and traditional automotive retail industry with competing brands, business models, products, and services, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Our competitors may also develop and market new technologies that render our existing or future business model, products and services less competitive, undesirable or obsolete. In addition, if our competitors develop business models, products or services with similar or superior functionality to our solutions or broader in range than those we provide customers with or with more competitive pricing, this may adversely impact our business and prospects.

Our current and potential competitors may have significantly greater financial, technical, marketing, infrastructure and other resources than we have, and an ability to devote greater resources to the development, promotion and support of their products and services. Additionally, they may have more extensive automotive industry relationships, longer operating histories and greater name recognition than us. As a result, these competitors may be able to adapt more quickly, develop new technologies faster and undertake more extensive marketing or promotional campaigns. Furthermore, the closures of a number of our vehicle preparation and customer centers following the announcement of our Revised 2023 Plan could limit our access to certain markets and impair our ability to compete effectively. In addition, if one or more of our competitors were to merge or partner with another of our competitors, the change in the competitive landscape could adversely affect our ability to compete effectively. If we are unable to compete with these competitors, the demand for our cars, products and services could substantially decline.

We may not be able to compete successfully against current or future competitors, and competitive pressures could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Loss of, or disruption to, our customer centers or vehicle preparation centers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects

Following the announcement of the Revised 2023 Plan, we have rationalized our footprint and operate seven customer centers and four vehicle preparation centers in the UK as of March 20, 2023. We store our sale-ready inventory at and deliver vehicles from these locations. Our ability to deliver vehicles to customers is dependent on our operational infrastructure, particularly the efficient functioning of our customer centers and vehicle preparation centers as well as the services of third-party providers of vehicle reconditioning. Customer and vehicle preparation centers rely on inventory management and logistics technology. If this technology fails to operate correctly it could result in an interruption to or a significant diminishment in our ability to function until the technology is restored to working order, which could result in delays in deliveries to our customers, damage to our reputation and potentially a loss of customers or sales.

Our customer centers also provide support in organizing deliveries, managing servicing, MOTs and repairs, dealing with insurance and warranty claims and answering general queries, and vehicle preparation centers are used to recondition used cars prior to sale. If one or more of these customer centers or vehicle preparation centers were to suffer an interruption to their operations, we may have difficulty in replicating their services at one of our other centers. Such an interruption could have a substantial impact on our ability to recondition vehicles to our quality standards, fulfill customer orders or address our customers’ needs, which could result in damage to our reputation and potentially a loss of customers or sales.

Although we have established business continuity procedures designed to minimize the impact of any such disruption, including work from home procedures where necessary, those procedures may not be adequate or effective. We maintain insurance to cover material exposures and business interruption; however, the insurance coverage may not be sufficient and insurance proceeds may not be paid on a timely basis to us if any of our customer centers or vehicle preparation centers are unavailable for any extended period of time. As a result, any loss of or disruption to any of our customer centers or vehicle preparation centers may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We rely on key third-party suppliers for outsourced services to us as well as for value-added products to our customers, and we cannot control the quality or fulfilment of these products

Our operations are subject to a number of risks, some of which are outside of our control, including: failure of a supplier to provide the required level of service or to comply with the terms of an agreement with us; interruption of operations or increased costs in the event that a supplier ceases its business due to insolvency or other unforeseen circumstances; failure of a supplier to comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements or our policies; loss of confidence by suppliers in us as a result of the recent changes to our business; and difficulty in managing the workforce, labor unrest or other employment issues. This in turn, may affect our relationships with our customers and damage our reputation. In addition, we may incur liability to third parties as a result of the actions of our suppliers.

Outsourced services may cease to be provided, for example due to a contract period expiring or a contract being terminated, and there can be no guarantee that the chosen suppliers will be able to provide the functions for which they have been contracted. Although we may replace suppliers or decide to perform functions ourselves, we cannot ensure that such substitution can be accomplished in a timely fashion or without significant costs or disruption to our operations. Any failure of third-party suppliers to deliver the contracted services could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, particularly if a disruption occurs during peak trading periods.

We also offer value-added products to our customers through third-party service providers. As we utilize third-party service providers, we cannot control all of the factors that might affect the quality and fulfilment of these services and products, including (i) lack of day-to-day control over the activities of third-party service providers, (ii) that such service providers may not fulfil their obligations to us or our customers or may otherwise fail to meet expectations and (iii) that such service providers may terminate their arrangements with us on limited or no notice or may change the terms of these arrangements in a manner unfavorable to us or our customers for reasons outside of our control. Such providers also are subject to local and national regulations and any failure by such third-party service providers to comply with applicable legal requirements could cause us financial or reputational harm.

In addition, we rely on third-party lenders to finance our customers’ vehicle purchases. To the extent that our finance customers have a higher-than-expected default rate, this may affect our ability to agree customer financing with third-party lenders on acceptable terms or at all. Moreover, we receive commissions and fees from these third-party service providers in connection with finance, service and insurance products purchased by our customers. A portion of the commissions and fees we receive on such products is subject to chargebacks in the event of early termination, default or prepayment of the contracts by end-customers, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our revenues and results of operations are partially dependent on the actions of these third parties. If one or more of these third-party service providers cease to provide these services or products to our customers, tighten their credit standards or otherwise provide services to fewer customers or are no longer able to provide them on competitive terms, any of these could have a material adverse effect on our business, revenues and results of operations. If we are unable to replace the current third-party providers upon the occurrence of one or more of the foregoing events, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, disagreements with such third-party service providers could require or result in costly and time-consuming litigation or arbitration.

We rely on our own logistics to transport our vehicle inventory. Thus, we are subject to business risks and costs associated with the transportation industry

We rely on our own logistics to transport vehicles from the site of purchase to vehicle preparation centers, then to our customer centers and/or then directly to our customers. As a result, we are exposed to risks associated with transportation, such as weather, traffic patterns, gasoline prices, cost inflation, supply chain delays, labor shortages at transportation providers and warehouses, recalls affecting our vehicle fleet, local and national regulations, insufficient internal capacity, rising prices of external transportation vendors, taxes, license and registration fees, insurance premiums, difficulty in recruiting and retaining qualified drivers, disruption of our technology systems and increasing equipment and operational costs. In addition, events related to political instability, or threatened or actual acts of terrorism and security concerns, may pose challenges to our logistics and fulfilment processes.

Our transportation costs may increase as carriers have increased prices. We are also exposed to the risks of vehicular crashes, which may result in serious injury to or loss of life of an employee or third party. Our failure to successfully manage our logistics and fulfilment process could cause a disruption in our inventory supply chain and distribution, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

As part of our Revised 2023 Plan, we announced the intention to make our logistics networks more efficient through the closure of certain of our vehicle preparation and customer centers and further headcount reductions. As part of this, as of March 20, 2023 we have reduced the number of vehicle preparation centers we operate to four and the number of customer centers we operate to seven. There can be no guarantee that these closures, reduced headcount and transport divestitures will lead to the desired efficiencies or reduced operating costs.

Our business is sensitive to conditions affecting automotive manufacturers, including manufacturer recalls and potential financial issues

Adverse conditions affecting one or more automotive manufacturers, including financial issues, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects and could impact the supply of vehicles. Manufacturer recalls are a common occurrence that have accelerated in frequency and scope in recent years. Recalls and the increased regulatory scrutiny surrounding selling used vehicles with open safety recalls could adversely affect used vehicle sales or valuations, could cause us to temporarily remove vehicles from inventory, could force us to incur increased costs and could expose us to litigation and adverse publicity related to the sale of recalled vehicles, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Vehicles in our inventory may be stolen, damaged or destroyed before they can be sold. In addition, our vehicles used for our subscription offering may be stolen, damaged or destroyed before being returned to us

Vehicles in our inventory comprise a large share of our total assets. As of December 31, 2022, the value of our overall inventory amounted to £233 million. Given the size of this inventory, we require significant space to store our cars. To this end, we have in the past, and may in the future, enter into short-term agreements with third-party logistics partners to handle the storage of some of our cars. We have limited control over the third-party partners and cannot guarantee that cars in our inventory will be properly protected (e.g., against theft or vandalism).

In addition, given that our cars are typically stored in unroofed parking lots, force majeure events such as flooding, fires or hail may affect a large number of our cars. This type of parking lot also has an increased risk of theft or vandalism. Such events may cause us to incur large, uninsured damages, deprive us of a significant portion of our inventory and reduce customer satisfaction if we cannot deliver sold cars. In addition, vehicles provided to customers under our car subscription offering (which is being wound down) may be stolen, damaged or destroyed before being returned to us. While we carry insurance for our vehicles, the insurance coverage may not be sufficient.

Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Fraudulent behavior of sellers or purchasers of our cars or an inability to correctly assess their creditworthiness may adversely affect our business

We source a large number of used cars. While we run provenance checks on the vehicles we purchase, we have in the past, and may in the future, purchase cars that have been stolen, altered or sourced from salvage. Criminals attempting fraudulent sales tend to be sophisticated, presenting us with fake identities, forged car documentation (e.g., a fake registration document and vehicle registration, or obtaining such documentation by submitting false information to the relevant governmental agencies) or altered vehicles (e.g. by changing the odometer reading). Buying stolen or altered cars may result in increased legal fees and expenses, fines and increased insurance costs. Any of the foregoing could have an adverse effect on our brand, reputation and ability to attract customers.

When deciding whether to provide financing services to consumers, we assess their creditworthiness by relying, among other things, on the assessments of third-party credit agencies. There is, however, no guarantee that the systems of these agencies will function properly or that there are no gaps or errors in their assessment. Going forward, we may develop and rely on our own automated credit assessment software. Our credit risk algorithms are, however, unproven and may not function as envisaged. Consequently, we may fail to correctly assess the creditworthiness of consumers. If purchases or payments are not properly authorized or payment confirmations are transmitted in error, the relevant purchasers may turn out to have insufficient funds or be able to defraud us, which would adversely affect our operations and result in increased legal expenses and fees. High levels of fraud could result in us having to comply with additional requirements or pay higher payment processing fees or fines. Furthermore, permitting new and innovative online payment options may increase the risk of fraud. In addition, the risk of fraud may increase as our business matures.

Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may experience significant returns of cars sold

Consumers who purchase cars currently have the right to return such cars within a period of seven days from delivery and to receive full refunds, assuming they have driven no more than a stated maximum amount of miles or kilometers per our terms and conditions and providing the car is undamaged. In the year ended December 31, 2022, the return rate for cars sold under this offering amounted to 6.7%. Returning cars is more cost-intensive than returns for other goods sold online due to the size and weight of vehicles. If we face high levels of returns (e.g., due to customers being dissatisfied with their car or customer service) we may incur significant costs, including costs in relation to handling such returns, as well as further complications to our operations.

In addition, we typically purchase cars ‘as is’ based on the details provided and we assume responsibility for any defects these cars may have, assuming they were not previously disclosed by the seller. Defects in purchased vehicles can lead to increased reconditioning costs and reduced flow through our vehicle preparation centers, which can impact the number of cars available for sale. We also sell cars through our wholesale channel and, in the case where these cars have defects that have not been disclosed, we may be required to compensate the purchaser or take back the deficient vehicle, which may result in significant transport costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may experience seasonal and other fluctuations in our operating results, which may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business

We expect our results of operations, including revenues and profitability, if any, and cash flow to vary in the future based in part on, among other things, consumers’ car-buying patterns. Industry vehicle sales exhibit seasonality with sales peaking late in the first calendar quarter and diminishing through the rest of the year, with the lowest relative level of industry vehicle sales expected to occur in the fourth calendar quarter. Due to our rapid growth, our sales patterns to date have not reflected the general seasonality of the automotive industry, but we expect this to change once our business and markets mature. Used vehicle prices also exhibit seasonality, with used vehicles depreciating at a faster rate in the last two quarters of each year and a slower rate in the first two quarters of each year. In the future, this may result in a gross profit per unit higher on average in the first half of the year than in the second half of the year.

In addition, a significant portion of our expenses are fixed and do not vary proportionately with fluctuations in revenues. If sales during peak seasons are significantly lower than expected for any reason, we may be unable to adjust our expenses in a timely manner and may be left with a substantial amount of unsold inventory which may be difficult to liquidate and the value of which may depreciate. At the same time, if we fail to obtain sufficient inventory of appropriate vehicles, we may not have an adequate supply of products to meet consumer demand. We may also experience fluctuations in our operating results due to the implementation of our Revised Business Plans.

We are highly dependent on our senior management team and other highly skilled personnel, and if we are not successful in attracting or retaining highly qualified personnel, we may not be able to successfully implement our business strategy

Our results and success are dependent in part on our ability to attract and retain effective personnel. Our performance depends significantly on the efforts and abilities of our key senior management. Our senior management have substantial experience and expertise and have made significant contributions to our continuing growth and success. The loss of any members of the senior management or other key employees without the prompt addition of appropriate replacements could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. We may be unable to find appropriate replacements in a timely manner or the replacements, once appointed, may not perform as effectively as expected. In addition, we may not continue to be able to retain or attract a sufficient number of skilled personnel, including within the commercial, car reconditioning, sales and marketing, software engineering, data and IT teams, on attractive terms or at all. In light of our announced reduction in headcount as part of the Revised 2023 Plan, we may find it difficult to prevent attrition beyond our planned reduction in headcount, and to attract personnel in the future. Any inability to recruit, train or retain such personnel could hinder our ability to successfully operate our business and to meet business objectives and timelines, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

In addition, labor shortages, the inability to hire or retain qualified employees nationally, regionally or locally or increased labor costs could have a material adverse effect on our ability to control expenses and efficiently conduct operations.

We are exposed to risks in connection with product-related warranties as well as the provision of services, which may be costly

We provide a free 90-day warranty and offer extended warranty, insurance and service plans to our customers. There is a risk that, relative to the warranties and insurance and service plans provided, the calculated product prices and the provisions for our warranty and insurance and service risks have been set, or will in the future be set, too low. There is also a risk that we may be required to extend the applicable warranty period originally granted or to provide services as a courtesy or for reasons of reputation where we are not legally obliged to do so, and for which we will generally not be able to assert claims in recourse against suppliers or insurers. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We will need to continue to improve the capacity, speed, integration and automation of our reporting systems and operational processes as we rationalize our operations

The rapid development of our business has placed, and may continue to place, significant demands on our management and operational infrastructure. As a part of our ongoing obligations as a public company, we will need to continue to improve the capacity, speed, integration and automation of our reporting systems and operational processes. See “— Because we have historically operated as a private company, we have limited experience complying with public company obligations and fulfilling these obligations is expensive and time consuming and may divert management’s attention from the day-to-day operation of our business” below.

Our future development could also strain our ability to maintain reliable service levels for our users and inhibit our ability to develop and improve our operational, financial, and management controls, enhance our reporting systems and procedures, and recruit, train and retain highly skilled personnel.

If we fail to achieve the necessary level of efficiency in our organization, or to improve the capacity, speed, integration and automation of our reporting systems, our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects could be materially adversely affected.

Cyber breaches caused by malicious hacking could jeopardize the integrity of our IT systems and the security of our data

The rise in cyber- and data-related crime presents a significant challenge in terms of securing data and systems against attack. The growth in online access throughout the retail landscape increases our exposure to potential cyber threats. Our systems, website, mobile applications, data (wherever stored), software or networks, and those of third parties, may be vulnerable to security breaches, including unauthorized access (from within our organization or by third parties), computer viruses or other malicious code and other cyber threats that could have a security impact. We and third parties may not be able to anticipate evolving techniques used to effect security breaches (which change frequently and may not be known until launched), or prevent attacks by hackers, including phishing, ransomware attacks or other cyber-attacks, or prevent breaches due to employee error or malfeasance, in a timely manner, or at all. Cyber-attacks have become far more prevalent in recent years, leading potentially to unauthorized access to, misuse or disclosure of, unavailability of, or the theft or manipulation of confidential and proprietary information or loss of access to, or destruction of, data on our or third-party systems, as well as interruptions or malfunctions in our or third-parties’ operations. See “—Failure to safeguard our customer and other personal data may result in reputational damage, financial penalties, claims from individuals and litigation, and decrease in revenues” below.

Attacks on our information technology networks may increase in the future. We and our suppliers are at a risk of suffering materially from such attacks and breaches, which could adversely affect our ability to process customer and consumer transactions and manage inventories, result in us incurring significant additional costs to modify our protective measures or to investigate and remediate vulnerabilities, and result in significant losses, reputational harm, competitive disadvantage and sometimes physical damage. We may also be subject to related litigation and financial losses that are either not insured against or not fully covered through our insurance policies, as well as being obliged to incur costs through a need to engage third-party experts, advisers and consultants. We may also be subject to regulatory intervention, significant regulatory fines and sanctions, particularly as a result of the increasing regulatory focus on promoting the protection of customer information and the integrity of information technology systems.

We have security measures in place to safeguard customer information and have invested in cyber security and added additional controls but still may suffer a major loss or unavailability of customer, employee or other personal data, or other business sensitive data, due to inadequate or failed processes or systems, human error, employee misconduct, catastrophic events, external or internal security breaches, acts of vandalism, computer viruses, malware, ransomware, misplaced or lost data, or other events that could disrupt our normal operating procedures and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, with the rise in remote working as a response to and following the COVID-19 pandemic, the risk of one of our employees intentionally or inadvertently compromising our systems or misusing data or confidential information has grown.

A significant disruption in service of our website and information technology systems could result in a disruption in our business and could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations

Our brand, reputation and ability to attract customers and generate revenues depend on the reliable performance of our website and supporting systems, technology and infrastructure. Our services are accessed by a large number of users, often at the same time, and as user traffic increases, we may not be able to scale our technology to accommodate increased capacity requirements, which may result in interruptions or delays in service. We have experienced minor interruptions in our systems in the past, including server failures, that temporarily slowed the performance of our website and we may experience interruptions in the future. Notwithstanding efforts to prevent website or IT failure or disruption, including established disaster recovery plans, interruptions in these systems, whether due to system failures, programming or configuration errors, computer viruses, malware, cyber-attacks, power outages, physical or electronic break-ins, fire, telecommunications failures, floods or other malfunctions and disruptions, could affect the availability of inventory on our website and prevent or inhibit the ability of customers to access our website. Problems with the reliability or security of our systems could harm our reputation, prevent us from making sales, result in a loss of customers as well as result in additional costs.

In addition, problems faced by our third-party web-hosting providers, including Amazon Web Services, could adversely affect the experience of our customers. For example, our third-party web-hosting providers could close their facilities without adequate notice or suffer interruptions in service caused by cyber-attacks, natural disasters or other phenomena. Any financial difficulties, up to and including bankruptcy, faced by our third-party web-hosting providers or any of the service providers with whom they contract may have negative effects on our business, the nature and extent of which are difficult to predict. We may not be able to find a replacement provider within a timely manner or on commercially favorable terms, which may result in reduced revenues and profitability, deteriorating cash flow and reduced market share. In addition, if our third-party web-hosting providers are unable to keep up with our growing capacity needs, our business could be harmed.

In the future, we may not be able to maintain the level of capital expenditures necessary to support the improvement or upgrading of our IT infrastructure. Any failure to effectively maintain, improve or upgrade our IT infrastructure and management information systems in a timely manner or at all could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.

Our business relies on e-mail and other messaging services, and any restrictions on the sending of e-mails or messages or an inability to timely deliver such communications could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations

We use e-mail and other messaging services both for internal employee communication purposes and as a free marketing tool to promote our services and website to customers. Promotions offered through e-mail and other messages we send are an important part of our marketing strategy. We provide e-mails to customers and other visitors informing them of the convenience and value of using our platform, as well as updates on orders placed, new inventory and price updates on listed inventory, and we believe these e-mails, coupled with our general marketing efforts, are an important part of the customer experience and help generate revenues. If we are unable to successfully deliver e-mails or other messages to our employees and customers, or if customers decline to consent or to open our e-mails or other messages, our revenues could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, our e-mails may be shown as “spam” or given a lower priority, which could reduce the likelihood of customers opening or responding positively to them. Actions by third parties to block, impose restrictions on, or charge for the delivery of, e-mails and other messages, as well as legal or regulatory changes limiting our right to send such messages or imposing additional requirements, could impair our ability to communicate with customers.

We also rely on social networking messaging services to send communications and to encourage customers to send communications. Social networks are important as a source of new clients and as a means by which to connect with current clients, and their importance may be increasing. We may be unable to effectively maintain a presence within these networks, which could lead to lower than anticipated brand affinity and awareness, and in turn could adversely affect our operating results. Additionally, changes to the terms of these social networking services to limit promotional communications, any restrictions that would limit our ability or customers’ ability to send communications through their services, disruptions or downtime experienced by these social networking services or decline in the use of or engagement with social networking services by customers and potential customers could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects. If we are not able to use unpaid marketing tools in the form of e-mails or other messages efficiently, this could impair our marketing efforts or make them more expensive if we have to increase spending on paid marketing channels.

Furthermore, malfunctions of our e-mail and messaging services could result in erroneous messages being sent and customers no longer wanting to receive any messages from us. In addition, our process to obtain consent from visitors to our website and mobile application to receive newsletters and other messages from us and to allow us to use their data may be insufficient or invalid. As a result, such individuals or third parties may accuse us of sending unsolicited advertisements and other messages, which could result in regulatory investigations and/or claims.

Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are subject to risks related to online payment methods

We accept payments for our vehicles through a variety of methods, including credit card, debit card and bank transfers. As we offer new payment options to customers, we may be subject to additional regulations, compliance requirements, fraudulent activity and financial crime. For certain payment methods, including credit and debit cards, we pay interchange and other fees, which may increase over time and raise our operating costs. We are also subject to payment card association operating rules and certification requirements, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and rules governing electronic funds transfers, which could change or be reinterpreted to make it difficult or impossible for us to comply. As our business changes and we enter new markets, we also may be subject to different rules under existing standards, which may require new assessments that involve costs above what we currently pay for compliance. Consumer practices, preferences and norms for payment mechanisms may also vary to a significant degree across different markets, thereby limiting the range of online payment options we are able to offer or deploy. If we fail to comply with the rules or requirements of any provider of a payment method we accept, if the volume of fraud in our transactions limits or terminates our rights to use payment methods we currently accept, or if a data breach occurs relating to our payment systems, we may, among other things, be subject to fines or higher transaction fees and may lose, or face restrictions placed upon, our ability to accept credit card and debit card payments from customers or facilitate other types of online payments. If any of these events were to occur, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We occasionally receive orders placed with fraudulent credit card data, including stolen credit card numbers, or from clients who have closed bank accounts or who have insufficient funds in open bank accounts to satisfy payment obligations. We may suffer losses as a result of orders placed with fraudulent credit card data even if the associated financial institution approved payment of the orders. Under current credit card practices, we may be liable for fraudulent credit card transactions. If we are unable to detect or control credit card or other fraud, our liability for these transactions could be substantial.

Further, we may become subject to changing payment regulations and requirements that could potentially affect the compliance of our current payment processes and increase the operational costs we incur to support payments. Any noncompliance by us in relation to global laws and regulations that govern payment methods, or any alleged noncompliance, could result in reputational damage, litigation, increased costs or liabilities, or require us to stop offering payment services in certain markets.

Failure to safeguard our customer and other personal data may result in reputational damage, financial penalties, claims from individuals and litigation, and decrease in revenues

We collect, store and use data in our operations that may be protected by data protection and privacy laws. We have taken steps to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) (“GDPR”) and the GDPR as it forms part of the law of the United Kingdom by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 and relevant statutory instruments (the “UK GDPR”). Such laws govern our ability to collect, use and transfer personal data, including relating to our customers and business partners, as well as any such data relating to our employees and others. We routinely transmit and receive personal, proprietary and confidential information (including debit and/or credit card details of our customers) by electronic means and therefore rely on the secure processing, storage and transmission of such information in line with regulatory requirements (including Payment Card Industry — Data Security Standards). Therefore, we are exposed to the risk that such data could be wrongfully appropriated, lost or disclosed, damaged or processed in breach of privacy or data protection laws. Failure to comply with the UK GDPR and other applicable data protection laws may result in reputational damage, financial penalties and fines, claims from individuals and litigation, and loss of competitive advantage. For example, breaches of the UK GDPR can each result in fines of up to 4% of annual global turnover.

In addition, we work with third-party service providers that process personal data on our behalf. There is a risk that those service providers may not fully comply with the relevant contractual data processing terms and all data protection obligations imposed on them (including by applicable law). Any failure by such third-party service providers to maintain and protect customer or other personal data could affect the quality of our services, compromise the confidentiality of our customer and other data or cause service interruptions. Such a failure may also result in the imposition of fines and other penalties and could lead to litigation that may result in our being ordered to pay damages and other costs and, as a result, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We also use cookies and similar technologies on our website including to allow our website to work, to analyze and improve our website, to personalize customers’ experiences and to market products to users through advertisements. In recent years, regulators in the UK have expressed increased concern over the use of third-party cookies and similar technologies including for online behavioral advertising and laws in this area are also subject to reform. Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations require us to obtain informed consent for the placement of a cookie on a customer’s device for certain purposes, and the UK GDPR also imposes additional conditions in relation to that consent, such as a prohibition on pre-checked consents except under certain circumstances.

We may not succeed in adequately protecting our intellectual property and know-how

We rely on a combination of trademark registrations, domain name registrations, and unregistered rights including copyright, unregistered designs, database rights and trade secrets, as well as contractual provisions and restrictions on access to and use of proprietary information to protect our brands, technologies, algorithms, applications and systems, a number of which are of essential importance to our business success. Although we have taken steps consistent with industry practice to protect our intellectual property and know-how, such steps may be inadequate.

We have a portfolio of registered trademarks in respect of the various trading names and logos used in connection with our website. Competitors may adopt service names similar to ours, thereby harming our ability to build our brand identity and possibly leading to user confusion. In addition, there could be potential trade name or trademark infringement or invalidity claims brought by owners of other trademarks or trademarks that incorporate variations of our trading name and logo. We also own a portfolio of internet domain names related to our brand and website. We actively monitor the domain name market for any changes and additions and seek to protect our brand through the registration of additional domain names, where appropriate. However, we may not be able to acquire or maintain all domain names that relate to our brand.

To the extent that our brand, technologies, algorithms and data are not protected by intellectual property rights or the law protecting confidential information, third parties, including competitors, may be able to commercialize or otherwise use our brands, technologies, algorithms and/or data without compensation. We also face the risk that existing or new competitors may independently develop similar or alternative technologies that are equal or superior to our technology without infringing our intellectual property rights or may design around our proprietary technologies.

Furthermore, litigation or proceedings before governmental authorities in the UK and overseas may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our brand, trade secrets, databases and domain names and to determine the validity and scope of our proprietary rights and those of others. See “— We may be subject to intellectual property rights claims, which are costly to defend and could require us to pay damages or an account of profits” below.

Any of these risks, if realized, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may be subject to intellectual property rights claims, which are costly to defend and could require us to pay damages or an account of profits

Companies in the internet and technology sectors may enter into litigation in order to enforce and protect their intellectual property rights. Third parties may in the future assert that we have infringed their intellectual property rights. As we face increasing competition, the possibility of being subject to intellectual property rights claims may grow.

Our technologies, products and services may not be able to withstand third-party claims against their use. Any intellectual property claims, with or without merit, could be time-consuming, expensive to litigate or settle and could divert management’s attention. If we were found to be in violation of a third-party’s intellectual property rights, we may be required to pay compensation, including damages, or an account of profits, or be subject to injunctions that prevent us from using certain technologies. We may have to seek a license to use the intellectual property rights in the technology, which may not be available or available on reasonable terms and may significantly increase our operating expenses. As a result, we may be required to develop alternative non-infringing technology, which could require significant effort and expense. If we cannot license or develop aspects of our technology due to infringement of third-party intellectual property rights, we may be forced to limit our product and service offerings and may be unable to compete effectively.

In addition, like many businesses, we use open-source software and will continue to use open-source software in the future. Open-source software is generally licensed without any support, warranties or other protections regarding infringement, origin, or quality. Some open-source licenses may, depending on how we use or modify the licensed software, require that we make available the source code of our modifications to or derivatives of the open-source software to the public or grant other licenses to our intellectual property. This may include allowing third parties to make further modifications to and distributions of that source code, in some circumstances at no or minimal cost. Some open-source licenses may also require us to make the source code for our proprietary software available under the terms of the open-source license, depending on how we combine our proprietary software with the relevant open-source software. Companies that use open-source software have faced challenges to their use of open-source software and other software incorporating it. As such, we could be subject to lawsuits claiming that we have not complied with applicable open-source license terms. If we are held to have breached or failed to comply with an open-source software license, we could be exposed to liability, be required to release the affected portions of our source code publicly or cease offering the implicated solutions, and/or be required to re-engineer our software. Although we do not intend to use or modify open-source software in a manner that would adversely affect our business, there can be no guarantee that this will be effective to identify or address all unintended consequences of using open-source software or breach of open-source license terms.

In addition, open-source licensors generally do not provide contractual protections, including as to security and patching, with respect to the software and are not obliged to maintain their software or provide any support, which in turn makes it difficult to pass assurances on to our customers. We may be required to maintain or update such software itself or to replace such software with internally developed software or software obtained from another supplier if the authors of the open-source software utilized by us stop updating it, which may be costly. The use of open-source software may also allow our competitors or other third parties to develop similar offerings more quickly and with less effort and ultimately could result in a loss of our competitive advantages.

Any of these risks, if realized, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We have income, expenses, assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies which could lead to volatility of our operating results as a result of foreign exchange fluctuations

Our reporting currency is British Pounds Sterling (“GBP”). We have assets and liabilities denominated in other currencies, principally United States Dollars (“USD”). Movement in exchange rates with USD and GBP could lead to gains and losses in our income statement. Revaluation of the Convertible Notes as a result of changes in the exchange rate between USD and GBP could lead to significant reported gains and losses between periods. In addition, a decline in the value of GBP relative to USD would increase our interest expense.

Because we have historically operated as a private company, we have limited experience complying with public company obligations and fulfilling these obligations is expensive and time consuming and may divert management’s attention from the day-to-day operation of our business

As a privately held company, we were not required to comply with many corporate governance and financial reporting practices and policies required of publicly-traded companies. As a publicly traded company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we were not required to incur in the recent past. Since we stopped qualifying as an “emerging growth company” as defined under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (“JOBS Act”) on December 31, 2022, these expenses are expected to increase further. In addition, new and changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure for public companies, including the Dodd-Frank Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, regulations related thereto and the rules and regulations of the SEC and NYSE, have increased the costs and the time that must be devoted to compliance matters. We expect these laws and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to render some activities more time-consuming and costly. We also expect to continue to need to hire more employees or engage outside consultants to comply with these requirements, which will increase our costs and expenses. As a public company, it could be more difficult or costly for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. As a public company, it could be more difficult and expensive for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, board committees or as executive officers. Furthermore, if we are unable to satisfy our obligations as a public company, we could be subject to the delisting of our Class A Shares, fines, sanctions and other regulatory action and potentially civil litigation.

We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting (“ICFR”) for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, which may result in material misstatements of our financial statements or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. If these material weaknesses are not remediated our ability to accurately and timely report our financial results could be adversely affected

In connection with our preparation and the audit of our financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2022, we have identified material weaknesses as defined under the Exchange Act in our internal control over financial reporting. SEC guidance defines a material weakness as a deficiency or combination of deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of annual financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. We and our independent public accounting firm identified the following material weaknesses as defined under the Exchange Act in our internal control over financial reporting:

i. The entity level and financial reporting control environment is not designed with the appropriate precision to prevent or detect material misstatement in accounting or disclosure, including deficiencies in the design and operation of transaction-level control activities. This includes a lack of effective management review controls, including over the completeness and accuracy of data and reports used in internal controls and segregation of duties relating to the review of manual journal entries, as a part of the financial statement close process for the year ended December 31, 2022;

ii. The Company did not design and maintain effective controls over information technology general controls (“ITGCs”) for all information systems and applications that are relevant to the preparation of the consolidated financial statements. Specifically, the Company did not design and maintain: (i) sufficient user access controls to ensure appropriate segregation of duties and adequately restrict user and privileged access to financial applications, programs and data to appropriate Company personnel; (ii) program change management controls to ensure that information technology (“IT”) program and data changes affecting financial information technology applications and underlying accounting records are identified, tested, authorized and implemented appropriately; and (iii) monitoring controls of IT operations performed by service organizations to ensure that critical batch and interface jobs are monitored, privileges are appropriately granted, and data backups are authorized and monitored. Business process controls (automated and manual) that are dependent on the ineffective ITGCs, or that rely on data produced from systems impacted by the ineffective ITGCs, are also deemed ineffective for the year ended December 31, 2022; and

iii. Insufficient accounting and finance personnel with IFRS technical accounting knowledge to account for non-routine and complex transactions for the year ended December 31, 2022.

A management assessment has been carried out in relation to the year ended December 31, 2022 and no additional material weaknesses have been identified. However, the management assessment found that, while an overall ICFR plan has been developed and is being implemented, the iterative nature of the process has meant that we are continuing to design, redesign and implement key financial reporting controls across each of the in-scope processes. As such, the management assessment has been unable to conclude that the overall entity-level, business process and IT general control environments are effective.

To address the material weaknesses we plan to continue to undertake remediation actions. During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 we implemented a governance, risk management and compliance (“GRC”) tool for the management, operation and evidencing of financial reporting controls. We continued to engage consultants with the appropriate expertise to perform a risk assessment of the internal control environment and assist management in designing and implementing entity level, financial reporting and management review controls, together with IT general and application controls for systems which impact financial reporting. In addition, we have hired a number of personnel with expertise in finance and technical IFRS accounting, including for senior finance leadership positions. Dedicated resources continue to be allocated to support the improvement of our financial control environment and we will deliver training to further support the needs of our staff.

Our remediation plan can only be accomplished over time, and we can offer no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects. We cannot provide assurance as to when we will be able to complete full remediation or if we will be able to avoid the identification of additional material weaknesses in the future. In addition, the process of assessing the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting may require the investment of substantial time and resources, including by members of senior management. As a result, this process may divert internal resources and take a significant amount of time and effort to complete. Additionally, if we are unable to successfully remediate the identified material weaknesses or if we identify additional material weaknesses, our financial statements could contain material misstatements that, when discovered in the future, could cause failure to meet reporting obligations. At such time, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue an adverse report in the event it is not satisfied with the level at which our internal control over financial reporting is documented, designed, or operating.

If we are considered to have material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting which are not addressed in a timely manner, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of our securities could decline, and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the NYSE, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Failure to remedy material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, or to implement or maintain other effective control systems required of public companies, could also restrict our future access to the capital markets and other forms of financing.

We may identify additional material weaknesses in the future, or otherwise fail to establish or maintain an effective system of internal control, which may result in material misstatements of our financial statements or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations

Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. If we identify any additional material weaknesses in the future, the accuracy and timing of our financial reporting may be adversely affected. Additionally, we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities law requirements regarding timely filing of periodic reports as well as applicable stock exchange listing requirements. We may be unable to prevent fraud, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting and our share price may also decline. Our reporting obligations as a public company may place a significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources and systems for the foreseeable future and may cause us to fail to achieve and maintain the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting in a timely fashion.

Due to its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies and procedures may deteriorate. In addition, control over financial reporting cannot provide absolute assurance of achieving financial reporting objectives. Internal control over financial reporting is a process that involves human diligence and compliance and is subject to lapses in judgement and breakdowns resulting from human failures. In addition, the level of manual processes and multiple systems in our internal control over financial reporting increases the risk of error. As a result, there is a risk that material misstatements may not be prevented or detected on a timely basis by internal control over financial reporting. We can provide no assurance that the measures we are currently undertaking or may take in the future will be sufficient to maintain effective internal controls or to avoid potential future deficiencies in internal control, including material weaknesses.

Failing to maintain effective disclosure controls and internal controls over financial reporting could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects and could cause a decline in the price of our securities.

Our operations may be adversely affected by legal, regulatory and other developments. Our non-compliance with applicable financial regulations could have a material impact on us

We are subject to a range of legal and regulatory requirements originating in the UK, particularly in the areas of consumer protection, transportation, product safety, competition, bribery and corruption, financial services, environment social and governance, customer service agreements, supplier pricing, infrastructure investment, property rights and planning laws and accounting. Failure to comply with any of these laws or regulations could result in administrative, civil or criminal penalties, loss of licenses or in a cease-and-desist order against our business operations, any of which could damage our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Cazoo Ltd is an appointed representative of ITC Compliance Limited (ITC) which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. As an Appointed Representative of ITC, it is permitted by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK to carry out regulated activity, including brokering finance agreements and introducing insurance products. We intend to remain compliant with such regulations although compliance cannot be guaranteed. Any non-compliance or regulatory changes could have a material and adverse effect on our ability to sell finance and/or insurance products and/or the pricing of and cover provided by such products. This could therefore materially and adversely affect the revenues and earnings that we derive from such products, and consequently could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

In addition, changes in laws and regulations, more stringent enforcement or alternative interpretation of existing laws and regulations may change the legal and regulatory environment, making compliance with all applicable laws and regulations more challenging. Changes in laws and regulations in the future could have an adverse economic impact on us by tightening restrictions, reducing our freedom to do business, increasing our costs of doing business or reducing our profitability. Failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations may lead to civil, administrative or criminal penalties, including but not limited to fines or the revocation of permits and licenses that may be necessary for our business activities. We could also be required to pay damages or civil judgments in respect of third-party claims.

New laws, regulations or policies of governmental organizations regarding increased fuel economy requirements, reduced greenhouse gas or pollutant emissions or vehicle safety could give rise to significant costs

We are subject to comprehensive and constantly evolving laws, regulations and policies related to environmental matters (and, in particular, climate change) and health and safety. Capital and operating expenses required in order to comply with environmental laws and regulations may be significant, and violations may result in substantial fines and penalties, third-party damages, suspension of production or a cessation of our operations. We anticipate that the extent of the legal and regulatory requirements in these areas and the related effect on our operations and costs of compliance will continue to increase in the future.

In general, there is a clear move toward increasingly stringent vehicle emissions regulations, particularly for conventional drive systems. Moreover, further tightening and scrutiny could be forthcoming given the ongoing focus on emissions testing and on-road performance, which could lead to significant additional costs to recondition cars so they comply with new regulations, which may reduce our gross profit per unit. In particular, the UK Government has announced plans to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 which would subsequently reduce the number of used petrol and diesel cars available for us to purchase. There may be a limited availability of vehicles that comply with such regulations which would adversely impact our ability to purchase inventory for sale.

In addition, to comply with current and future environmental, health and safety norms (such as air emissions, the maintenance of safe workplace conditions and regulations that impose responsibility on vehicle sellers to fund the recovery, recycling and disposal of vehicle parts, including lead-acid batteries, at the end of their useful life), we may have to incur substantial capital expenditures to upgrade vehicles and vehicle preparation centers. All of these factors could increase our costs significantly.

Increased public and shareholder attention to environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) matters may expose us to negative public perception, impose additional costs on our business or impact our share price

In recent years, greater attention has been directed towards publicly-traded companies regarding environmental, social and governance matters. A failure, or perceived failure, to respond to regulatory requirements or meet investor or customer expectations related to ESG concerns could cause harm to our business and reputation. For example, the majority of the cars we buy and sell are powered by gasoline or diesel engines, and government, media, activist or other pressure to limit emissions could negatively impact consumers’ perceptions of us, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Additionally, while we strive to create an inclusive culture and a diverse workforce where employees feel valued and respected, a failure, or perceived failure, to properly address inclusivity, diversity and other corporate governance matters could result in reputational harm, reduced sales or an inability to attract and retain a talented workforce. Organizations that provide information to investors on corporate governance and other matters have developed rating systems for evaluating companies on their approach to ESG. Unfavorable ESG ratings that we could receive could lead to negative investor sentiment which could have a negative impact on our stock price.

Regulation of the internet and e-commerce is evolving, and unfavorable changes or our failure to comply with these regulations could substantially harm our business and results of operations

We are subject to general business regulations and laws as well as regulations and laws specifically governing the Internet, e-commerce and mobile commerce. Existing and future regulations and laws could impede the growth of the Internet, e-commerce or mobile commerce. These regulations and laws may involve taxes, privacy, data security, anti-spam, pricing, content protection, electronic contracts and communications, mobile communications, consumer protection, information reporting requirements, advertising, unencumbered Internet access to our services and the design and operation of our website. It is not clear how existing laws governing issues such as property ownership, sales and other taxes and consumer privacy apply to the Internet as the vast majority of these laws were adopted prior to the advent of the Internet and do not contemplate or address the unique issues raised by the Internet, e-commerce or mobile commerce. Unfavorable regulations and laws could diminish the demand, including online demand, for used cars and complementary products and services and increase our cost of doing business and could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We are subject to many hazards and operational risks, including accidents or incidents relating to health, safety and the environment at our customer centers and vehicle preparation centers, that may disrupt our business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations

Our operations are subject to many hazards and operational risks inherent to our business, including accidents or incidents relating to health, safety and the environment at our customer centers and vehicle preparation centers. Our reconditioning operations may expose us to safety risks, including environmental risks and health and safety hazards to our employees or third parties. Any significant interruption due to any of the above hazards at one of our primary facilities could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are also exposed to hazards and operational risks associated with transportation, such as vehicular crashes, which may result in serious injury to or loss of life of an employee or third party. See “— We rely on our own logistics to transport our vehicle inventory. Thus, we are subject to business risks and costs associated with the transportation industry” above.

Moreover, our insurance coverage may be inadequate to cover our liabilities related to such hazards or operational risks and we may not be able to maintain adequate insurance in the future at rates we consider reasonable and commercially justifiable, insurance may not continue to be available on terms as favorable as our current arrangements and certain risks related to breaches of health and safety may not be insurable.

Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Natural disasters, unusual weather conditions, epidemic outbreaks, global health crises, terrorist acts and political events could disrupt our business

The occurrence of one or more natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, floods and earthquakes, unusual weather conditions, epidemic or pandemic outbreaks, terrorist attacks or disruptive political events in regions where we operate or where our third-party contractors’ and suppliers’ facilities are located, could adversely affect our business. Natural disasters including floods, hurricanes and earthquakes may damage our facilities or those of our suppliers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Severe weather, such as rainfall, snowfall or extreme temperatures, may impact our ability to transport and deliver vehicles, thereby reducing our sales and profitability. Terrorist attacks, actual or threatened acts of war or the escalation of current hostilities, or any other military or trade disruptions impacting our domestic or foreign suppliers of components of our vehicles, may impact our operations by, among other things, causing supply chain disruptions and increases in commodity prices, which could adversely affect our raw materials or transportation costs. These events also could cause or act to prolong an economic recession or depression, such as the business disruption and related financial impact that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. To the extent these events also impact one or more of our suppliers or contractors or result in the closure of any of their facilities or our facilities, we may be unable to maintain delivery schedules or provide other support functions to our customers. In addition, the disaster recovery and business continuity plans we have in place currently are limited and are unlikely to prove adequate in the event of a serious disaster or similar event. We may incur substantial expenses as a result of the limited nature of our disaster recovery and business continuity plans and, more generally, any of these events could cause consumer confidence and spending to decrease, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Tax matters could impact our results of operations and financial condition

We are subject to corporation tax in the UK. Our provision for corporation taxes and cash tax liability in the future could be adversely affected by numerous factors including, changes in tax laws, regulations, accounting principles or interpretations thereof, which could materially and adversely impact our cash flows and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects in future periods. Increases in our effective tax rate could also materially affect our results. Further, we are subject to the examination of our income and other tax returns by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, which could impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may become subject to risks arising from legal disputes in connection with our general business activities

In connection with our general business activities, we may become the subject of legal disputes in the UK or in jurisdictions in which we have previously operated. Legal claims could be asserted against us by individuals, either individually or through class actions, by governmental entities in civil or criminal investigations and proceedings or by other entities. These claims could be asserted under a variety of laws, including but not limited to consumer finance laws, consumer protection laws, intellectual property laws, privacy laws, labor and employment laws, securities laws, employee benefit laws and tort laws. Moreover, the process of litigating cases, even if we are successful, may be costly, and in certain circumstances may approximate the cost of damages sought. These claims may also divert our financial and management resources from more beneficial uses. These actions could also expose us to adverse publicity, which might adversely affect our reputation and/or customer preference for our products. Litigation trends and expenses and the outcome of litigation cannot be predicted with certainty and adverse litigation trends, expenses and outcomes could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our insurance may not provide adequate levels of coverage against claims

We are subject to all of the operating hazards and risks normally incidental to the provision of sales of cars. In addition to contractual provisions limiting our liability to our corporate vehicle sourcing partners, retail sellers, customers and third parties, we maintain insurance policies in such amounts and with such coverage and deductibles as required by law and that we believe are reasonable and prudent. Nevertheless, such insurance may not be adequate to protect us from all the liabilities and expenses that may come from claims arising in the ordinary course of our business and current levels of insurance may not be able to be maintained or be available at economical prices. If a significant liability claim is brought against us that is not covered by insurance, then we may have to pay the claim with our own funds, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our inability to obtain affordable insurance on our inventory may materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations

We rely on inventory insurance to protect against catastrophic losses of our inventory. There is no guarantee that we will continue to be able to insure our inventory at affordable rates, or at all, through outside insurers. If we are unable to purchase affordable insurance, we may have to self-insure, reducing our ability to make other investments in our business and exposing us to financial risk. In addition, our inability to insure our inventory through an outside insurer, or to adequately self-insure, may adversely impact our ability to finance inventory purchases.

Risks Related to the Ownership of Our Securities, the Law of the Cayman Islands and Provisions of Our Memorandum and Articles of Association

If our business and results of operations do not meet the expectations of investors, shareholders or financial analysts, the market price of our securities may decline

If our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects do not meet the expectations of investors or securities analysts, the market price of our securities may decline. Fluctuations in the price of our securities could contribute to the loss of all or part of your investment. Any of the factors listed below could have a material adverse effect on your investment in our securities and our securities may trade at prices significantly below the price you paid for them. In these circumstances, the trading price of our securities may not recover and may experience a further decline.

Factors affecting the trading price of our securities may include:

Broad market and industry factors may materially harm the market price of our securities irrespective of our operating performance. The stock market in general, and the NYSE, have experienced price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of the particular companies affected. The trading prices and valuations of these stocks, and of our securities, may not be predictable. A loss of investor confidence in the market for the stocks of other companies that investors perceive to be similar to us could depress our share price regardless of our business, prospects, financial conditions, or results of operations. A decline in the market price of our securities also could adversely affect our ability to issue additional securities and our ability to obtain additional financing in the future.

In the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their securities have been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future, which could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention. In addition, you should not rely on our past results as an indication of our future performance. This variability and unpredictability could also result in our failing to meet the expectations of industry or financial analysts or investors for any period. If our revenue or operating results fall below the expectations of analysts or investors or below any forecasts we may provide to the market, or if the forecasts we provide to the market are below the expectations of analysts or investors, the prices of our securities could decline substantially. Such price declines could occur even when we have met any previously stated revenue or earnings forecasts that we may provide.

The NYSE may delist our Class A Shares, which could limit investors’ ability to transact in our securities, subject us to additional trading restrictions, and trigger a “Fundamental Change” under the Convertible Notes, requiring us to repurchase for cash the Convertible Notes at 100% of their principal amount, plus any accrued and unpaid interest thereon

Our Class A Shares are listed on the NYSE. Although we were able to meet their initial listing requirements, we may be unable to maintain the listing of our Class A Shares in the future. We received a notice on July 15, 2022 from the NYSE that we were not in compliance with the continued listing standards set forth in Rule 802.01C of the NYSE Listed Company Manual that require listed companies to maintain an average closing share price of at least $1.00 over a consecutive 30 trading-day period. The Board of Directors approved a consolidation of the Company’s issued and unissued share capital at a ratio of 1-for-20 (the “reverse stock split”), which became effective on February 8, 2023. The Class A Shares began trading on a split-adjusted basis on Thursday, February 9, 2023.

Rule 802.01B of the NYSE Listed Company Manual provides that a company will be considered to be below compliance if its average global market capitalization over a consecutive 30 trading-day period is less than $50,000,000. There can be no guarantee that we will maintain a market capitalization of over $50,000,000. If NYSE subsequently delists our Class A shares, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

A default under the Indenture or the Fundamental Change itself could also lead to a default under agreements governing our future indebtedness. If the payment of the related indebtedness were to be accelerated after any applicable notice or grace periods, we may not have sufficient funds to repay the interest on such indebtedness and repurchase the Convertible Notes or to repay principal at maturity or pay required premium. See “— We may not have the ability to repurchase the Convertible Notes upon a fundamental change or repay the Convertible Notes in cash at their maturity, and our future debt may contain limitations on our ability to pay cash upon conversion, redemption or repurchase of the Convertible Notes” above.

Our Warrants are no longer listed for trading on the NYSE and are only traded over the counter on the pink sheets, which may adversely limit investors’ ability to effect transactions in our Warrants and have adverse effects on our business

We received a notice on January 3, 2023 from the NYSE that our Warrants were no longer suitable for listing based on “abnormally low” price levels, pursuant to Section 802.01D of the NYSE Listed Company Manual. Trading in the Warrants on the NYSE was suspended on January 4, 2023, and the delisting of the Warrants was completed on January 19, 2023. As a result, the Warrants have since been available for trading only through the pink sheets. The delisting of our Warrants from the NYSE and their limited trading over the counter on the pink sheets may have adverse effects on our business, including:

An active trading market for the Warrants may not be sustained in the future. You may be unable to sell your Warrants unless an active market for such securities can be established and sustained.

If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they downgrade our Class A Shares or our industry, our share price and trading volume could decline

The trading market for our Class A Shares relies in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about our business. We do not control these analysts. If one or more of the analysts who do cover us downgrade our Class A Shares or industry, or the shares of any of our competitors, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the price of our Class A Shares could decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of us or fails to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the market, which in turn could cause our share price or trading volume to decline.

Future resales of our Class A Shares and/or our Warrants may cause the market price of our securities to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well

Under the Business Combination Agreement, the Sponsor, certain current shareholders of Cazoo and the PIPE Investors were granted certain rights to require us to register, in certain circumstances, the resale under the Securities Act of our Class A Shares and Warrants held by them, subject to certain conditions. In addition, the holders of the Convertible Notes were granted certain rights to require us to register, in certain circumstances, the resale under the Securities Act of our Class A Shares issuable upon conversion of the Convertible Notes, subject to certain conditions. The sale or possibility of sale of these Class A Shares and/or Warrants could have the effect of increasing the volatility in the prices of these securities or putting significant downward pressure on the price of our Class A Shares and/or Warrants.

Our Convertible Notes may be converted into Class A Shares, which would increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market and result in dilution to our shareholders

On February 16, 2022, we issued $630 million in aggregate principal amount of the Convertible Notes pursuant to the Indenture. The Convertible Notes will be convertible at the option of the holders at any time after November 6, 2022 and prior to the close of business on the second scheduled trading day immediately preceding February 16, 2027. The Convertible Notes are currently convertible at a rate of 10 Class A Shares per $1,000 principal amount of Convertible Notes. In addition, as more fully described in “Item 10.C — Material Contracts — Indenture,” we may be required, under certain circumstances, to make a payment of premium to holders at maturity of the Convertible Notes equal to 50% of the principal amount of the Convertible Notes. The premium is payable in cash, Class A Shares, or a combination of cash and Class A Shares at the option of the Company. To the extent the Convertible Notes are converted, or payment of premium (if required) upon maturity of the Convertible Notes is made in shares, additional Class A Shares will be issued, which will result in dilution to the holders of Class A Shares and increase the number of shares eligible for resale in the public market. Sales of substantial numbers of such shares in the public market or the fact that such Convertible Notes may be exercised, or payment of premium could be made in shares, could adversely affect the market price of our Class A Shares.

Our Warrants may be exercised for Class A Shares, which would increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market and result in dilution to our shareholders

Outstanding Warrants to purchase an aggregate of 2,062,728 Class A Shares may be exercised in accordance with the terms of the Warrant Agreement governing those securities. These Warrants became exercisable on October 30, 2021. The exercise price of these Warrants is currently $230.00 per share. To the extent such Warrants are exercised, additional Class A Shares will be issued, which will result in dilution to the holders of Class A Shares and increase the number of shares eligible for resale in the public market. Sales of substantial numbers of such shares in the public market or the fact that such Warrants may be exercised could adversely affect the market price of our Class A Shares.

We may issue additional Class A Shares or other equity or equity-linked securities, which would dilute the interests of our existing shareholders and may depress the market price of our Class A Shares

We may issue additional Class A Shares or other equity or equity-linked securities in the future in connection with, among other things, future capital raising and transactions and future acquisitions, without shareholder approval in many circumstances. We may also issue additional Class A Shares upon exercise of our Warrants, or upon conversion of our Convertible Notes or payment of premium upon maturity of our Convertible Notes. See “— Our Warrants may be exercised for Class A Shares, which would increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market and result in dilution to our shareholders” and “— Our Convertible Notes may be converted into Class A Shares, which would increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market and result in dilution to our shareholders.”

Our issuance of additional Class A Shares or other equity or equity-linked securities would have the following effects:

Any future issuances of our Class A Shares may be dilutive to current holders of Class A Shares and negatively impact the value of your investment.

Fluctuations in operating results, quarter to quarter earnings and other factors, including incidents involving customers and negative media coverage, may result in significant decreases in the price of our securities

The stock markets experience volatility that is often unrelated to operating performance. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price of our Class A Shares and, as a result, there may be significant volatility in the market price of our Class A Shares. Separately, if we are unable to achieve profitability in line with investor expectations, the market price of our Class A Shares will likely decline when it becomes apparent that the market expectations may not be realized. In addition to operating results, many economic and seasonal factors outside of our control could have an adverse effect on the price of our Class A Shares and increase fluctuations in our results. These factors include certain of the risks discussed herein, operating results of other companies in the same industry, changes in financial estimates or recommendations of securities analysts, speculation in the press or investment community, negative media coverage or risk of proceedings or government investigation, change in government regulation, foreign currency fluctuations and uncertainty in tax policies, the possible effects of war, terrorist and other hostilities, other factors affecting general conditions in the economy or the financial markets or other developments affecting the vehicle industry.

A market for our securities may not be sustained, which would adversely affect the liquidity and price of our securities

An active trading market for our Class A Shares may not be sustained. In addition, the price of our securities could fluctuate significantly for various reasons, many of which are outside our control, such as our performance, large purchases or sales of the Class A Shares, legislative changes and general economic, political or regulatory conditions. Holders may be unable to sell their Class A Shares or Warrants unless a market can be sustained.

We do not currently intend to pay dividends on our Class A Shares and, consequently, a shareholder’s ability to achieve a return on its investment will depend on appreciation in the price of our Class A Shares

We currently intend to retain our future earnings, if any, to finance the further development and expansion of our business and do not intend to pay cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to pay dividends will be at the discretion of our Board and will depend on our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements and future agreements and financing instruments, business prospects and such other factors as our Board deems relevant. As a result, a shareholder’s ability to achieve a return on their investment in our Class A Shares will depend on appreciation in the price of our Class A Shares.

Concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control

Alex Chesterman owns approximately 24.3% of our issued and outstanding Class A Shares. As a result, Alex Chesterman has significant influence over matters requiring shareholder approval. In addition, under the Investor Rights Agreement, Alex Chesterman is entitled to nominate himself to our board of directors so long as he is (i) our Chief Executive Officer or, (ii) together with his affiliates, beneficially owns at least 5% of our issued and outstanding voting shares. This concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control and might adversely affect the market price of our Class A Shares. This concentration of ownership may not be in the best interests of our other shareholders.

Because we are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, you may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through the U.S. Federal courts may be limited

We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon our directors or officers, or enforce judgments obtained in the United States courts against our directors or officers.

Our corporate affairs are governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act and the common law of the Cayman Islands. We are subject to the federal securities laws of the United States. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to the Company under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under Cayman Islands law are different from what they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a different body of securities laws as compared to the United States, and certain states, such as Delaware, may have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholders derivative action in a Federal court of the United States.

We have been advised by Maples and Calder, our Cayman Islands legal counsel, that the courts of the Cayman Islands are unlikely (i) to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts of the United States predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state; and (ii) in original actions brought in the Cayman Islands, to impose liabilities against us predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state, so far as the liabilities imposed by those provisions are penal in nature. In those circumstances, although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, the courts of the Cayman Islands will recognize and enforce a foreign money judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits based on the principle that a judgment of a competent foreign court imposes upon the judgment debtor an obligation to pay the sum for which judgment has been given provided certain conditions are met. For a foreign judgment to be enforced in the Cayman Islands, such judgment must be final and conclusive and for a liquidated sum, and must not be in respect of taxes or a fine or penalty, inconsistent with a Cayman Islands judgment in respect of the same matter, impeachable on the grounds of fraud or obtained in a manner, or be of a kind the enforcement of which is, contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands (awards of punitive or multiple damages may well be held to be contrary to public policy). A Cayman Islands Court may stay enforcement proceedings if concurrent proceedings are being brought elsewhere.

As a result of all of the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a corporation incorporated in the United States.

It may be difficult to enforce a U.S. judgment against us or our directors and officers outside the United States, or to assert U.S. securities law claims outside of the United States

The majority of our directors and executive officers are not residents of the United States, and substantially all of our assets and the assets of these persons are located outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for investors to effect service of process upon us within the United States or other jurisdictions, including judgments predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States. Additionally, it may be difficult to assert U.S. securities law claims in actions originally instituted outside of the United States. Foreign courts may refuse to hear a U.S. securities law claim because foreign courts may not be the most appropriate forum in which to bring such a claim. Even if a foreign court agrees to hear a claim, it may determine that the law of the jurisdiction in which the foreign court resides, and not U.S. law, is applicable to the claim. Further, if U.S. law is found to be applicable, the content of applicable U.S. law must be proved as a fact, which can be a time-consuming and costly process, and certain matters of procedure would still be governed by the law of the jurisdiction in which the foreign court resides. See “Exhibit 2.5 — Description of Securities — Enforceability of Civil Liability under Cayman Islands Law” incorporated by reference in this Annual Report.

Provisions in our Articles may inhibit a takeover of the Company, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A Shares and could entrench management

Our Articles contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that shareholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include that our Board is classified into three classes of directors. As a result, in most circumstances, a person can gain control of the board only by successfully engaging in a proxy contest at two or more annual general meetings. Our authorized but unissued Ordinary Shares and preference shares will be available for future issuances without shareholder approval and could be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future offerings to raise additional capital, acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued and unreserved Ordinary Shares and preference shares could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of the Company by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise that could involve the payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our Class A Shares.

As a foreign private issuer, we generally are permitted to adopt certain home country practices in relation to corporate governance matters that differ significantly from the NYSE corporate governance listing standards applicable to U.S. domestic companies; these practices may afford less protection to shareholders than they would enjoy if we complied fully with the NYSE corporate governance listing standards

We are considered a foreign private issuer as such term is defined in Rule 405 under the Securities Act. The NYSE rules generally permit a foreign private issuer like us to follow the corporate governance practices of our home country. Certain corporate governance practices in the Cayman Islands, which is our home country, may differ significantly from the NYSE corporate governance listing standards.

Among other things, we are not required to: (i) have a majority of the board be independent; (ii) have a compensation committee consisting entirely of independent directors; (iii) have a nominating and corporate governance committee consisting entirely of independent directors; (iv) obtain shareholders’ approval for issuance of securities in certain situations; or (v) have regularly scheduled executive sessions with only independent directors each year. We may continue to follow our home country’s corporate governance practices as long as we remain a foreign private issuer. As a result, our securityholders will not have the benefit of all of the NYSE corporate governance rules that apply to U.S. domestic companies. See “Item 16.G — Corporate Governance”

We are a foreign private issuer, and as such are exempt from certain provisions of U.S. securities laws applicable to U.S. domestic public companies

Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer, we are exempt from certain provisions of the securities rules and regulations in the U.S. that are applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, including: (i) the rules under the Exchange Act requiring the filing with the SEC of quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K; (ii) the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents, or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act; (iii) the sections of the Exchange Act related to short-swing profit disgorgement and the disclosure of beneficial ownership of directors, executive officers and 10% or greater shareholders; and (iv) the selective disclosure rules by issuers of material nonpublic information under Regulation FD.

We are required to file an annual report on Form 20-F within four months of the end of each fiscal year. In addition, we currently intend to publish certain quarterly financial information as press releases, distributed pursuant to the rules and regulations of the NYSE. Press releases relating to financial results and material events will also be furnished to the SEC on Form 6-K. However, the information we are required to file with or furnish to the SEC will be less extensive and less timely compared to that required to be filed with the SEC by U.S. domestic issuers. As a result, you may not be afforded the same protections or information that would be made available to you were you investing in a U.S. domestic issuer.

We may lose our foreign private issuer status in the future, which could result in significant additional cost and expense

The determination of foreign private issuer status is made annually on the last business day of an issuer’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter and, accordingly, the next determination will be made with respect to Cazoo on June 30, 2023.

In the future, we would lose our foreign private issuer status if a majority of our shareholders are U.S. residents, and a majority of our directors or executive officers are U.S. citizens or residents, more than 50% of our assets are located in the United States or our business is administered principally in the United States. The regulatory and compliance costs to us under U.S. securities laws as a U.S. domestic issuer may be significantly higher. If we are not a foreign private issuer, we will be required to file periodic reports and registration statements on U.S. domestic issuer forms with the SEC, which are more detailed and extensive than the forms available to a foreign private issuer. For example, the annual report on Form 10-K requires domestic issuers to disclose executive compensation information on an individual basis with specific disclosure regarding compensation philosophy, objectives, annual total compensation (base salary, bonus, and equity compensation) and potential payments in connection with change in control, retirement, death or disability, while the annual report on Form 20-F permits foreign private issuers to disclose compensation information on an aggregate basis. We would also have to mandatorily comply with U.S. federal proxy requirements, and our officers, directors, and principal shareholders would become subject to the related to short-swing profit disgorgement and the disclosure of beneficial ownership of directors, executive officers and 10% or greater shareholders. We may also be required to modify certain of our policies to comply with good governance practices associated with U.S. domestic issuers. Such conversion and modifications will involve additional costs. In addition, we would lose our ability to rely upon exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements on the NYSE that are available to foreign private issuers.

We may redeem your unexpired public warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your Warrants worthless

We have the ability to redeem outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per Warrant if, among other things, the reference value equals or exceeds $360.00 per share (subject to adjustment). If and when the Warrants become redeemable, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem Warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise such Warrants. Redemption of the outstanding Warrants as described above could force you to: (i) exercise your Warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so; (ii) sell your Warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your Warrants; or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding Warrants are called for redemption, we expect would be substantially less than the market value of your Warrants.

In addition, we have the ability to redeem outstanding Warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per Warrant if, among other things, the last reported sale price of our Class A Shares for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders equals or exceeds $200.00 per share as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share dividends, right issuances, consolidations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and other similar transactions). In such a case, the holders will be able to exercise their Warrants prior to redemption for a number of our Class A Shares determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A Shares. Any such redemption may have similar consequences to a cash redemption described above. In addition, such redemption may occur at a time when the Warrants are “out of the money,” in which case you would lose any potential embedded value from a subsequent increase in the value of our Class A Shares had your Warrants remained outstanding. The value received upon exercise of our Warrants (i) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their Warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (ii) may not compensate the holders for the value of the Warrants, including because the number of Class A Shares received is capped (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the Warrants.

The terms of our Warrants may be amended in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment

The Warrant Agreement governing the terms of the Warrants provides that (a) the terms of our Warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder for the purpose of (i) curing any ambiguity or correcting any mistake, including to conform the provisions of the Warrant Agreement to the description of the terms of the Warrants and the Warrant Agreement set forth in the prospectus for the initial public offering of Ajax, or defective provision or (ii) adding or changing any provisions with respect to matters or questions arising under the Warrant Agreement as the parties to the Warrant Agreement may deem necessary or desirable and that the parties deem to not adversely affect the rights of the registered holders of the Warrants under the Warrant Agreement and (b) all other modifications or amendments require the vote or written consent of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants; provided that any amendment that solely affects the terms of the private warrants or any provision of the Warrant Agreement solely with respect to the private warrants will also require at least 65% of the then outstanding private warrants.

Accordingly, we may amend the terms of our public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of our public warrants with the consent of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants will be unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the Warrants, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares purchasable upon exercise of a Warrant.

There can be no assurance that our Warrants will be in the money in the future, and they may expire worthless

The exercise price for our Warrants is currently $230.00 per Class A Share. There can be no assurance that our Warrants will be in the money prior to their expiration, and as such, our Warrants may expire worthless.

ITEM 4. INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY

A. About the Company

Cazoo Group Ltd (NYSE: CZOO) (“Cazoo” or the “Company”), the UK’s leading online car retailer, makes buying and selling a car as simple as ordering any other product online. Cazoo was founded in December 2018 by Alex Chesterman OBE, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cazoo, one of Europe’s most successful serial digital entrepreneurs who previously founded LoveFilm and Zoopla, with the aim of transforming the used car market in the UK.

The Company’s legal and commercial name is Cazoo Group Ltd. The Company was incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands as an exempted company on March 24, 2021, solely for the purpose of effectuating the Transaction, which was consummated on August 26, 2021. See “Explanatory Note” for further details of the Transaction. Prior to the Transaction, the Company owned no material assets and did not operate any business.

Upon closing of the Transaction, Class A Shares became listed on the NYSE under the symbol “CZOO” and we received proceeds of approximately $836 million, net of fees. In February 2022, we issued, via a private placement, 2.00% Convertible Senior Notes (the “Notes”) in an aggregate principal amount of $630 million. The Convertible Notes are currently convertible into Class A Shares at a conversion price of $100.00 per share.

The Company’s principal executive office is located at 41 Chalton Street, London, NW1 1JD, and its telephone number is +44 20 3901 3488.

The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC which is accessible at http://www.sec.gov. Since the Company is a “foreign private issuer,” it is exempt from the rules and regulations under the Exchange Act prescribing the furnishing and content of proxy statements, and its officers, directors and principal shareholders are exempt from the reporting and “short-swing” profit recovery provisions contained in Section 16 of the Exchange Act with respect to their purchase and sale of the Company’s shares. In addition, the Company is not required to file reports and financial statements with the SEC as frequently or as promptly as U.S. public companies whose securities are registered under the Exchange Act. However, it is required to file with the SEC an Annual Report on Form 20-F containing financial statements audited by an independent accounting firm.

The Company’s website address is https://www.cazoo.co.uk. The information contained on the Company’s website does not form a part of, and is not incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report.

B. Business Overview

Our Company

Cazoo is an online car retailer. Cazoo was founded with a mission to transform the car buying and selling experience across the UK by providing better selection, transparency, and convenience. Our aim is to make buying or selling a car no different to ordering any other product online, where consumers can simply and seamlessly buy, sell and finance a car entirely online for delivery or collection. Since our launch in the UK in December 2019, we have experienced rapid growth and sold more than 100,000 cars to Retail customers across the UK as of December 31, 2022.

Markets

In 2021-22 we pursued the strategy of expanding operations in the EU with a number of acquisitions, launching operations in Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Following the strategic review of our EU business, which completed in September 2022, we determined that the appropriate decision for Cazoo was to withdraw from the EU to focus on the UK market. The decision to withdraw was based on the material further investment required for Cazoo to scale its operations in the EU and the conflict this had with the Company’s priorities of cash conservation and achieving profitability in the UK. Our focus is now on the UK market, which consists of approximately seven million used car transactions annually, worth approximately £100 billion. The European business is presented as discontinued operations in 2022, and our operating and financial review focuses on the operations in the UK.

The Cazoo Platform

We are a highly data-driven Company and use proprietary data and algorithms to both purchase vehicles and to price them for sale. Our end-to-end digital platform offers customers in the UK a choice of used vehicles of different makes and models for acquisition, and an opportunity to sell their car without an obligation to buy a car from us. Other options available to the customer include part-exchanging their current vehicle as a form of partial payment for a Cazoo car, as well as options to finance a car purchase. Our customer proposition continues to evolve over time as we adjust to the market backdrop and needs of the customer.

Vehicle lifecycle

Vehicle Acquisition

We purchase the cars we believe are best suited for our customers and platform. Our purchasing strategy focuses on optimizing our purchasing channels, balanced with car desirability. We use a data-driven and algorithm-based approach, derived from a mix of our first-party data (Cazoo website searches and intent to buy, sales volumes, days to sale) and third-party data sources, to determine which cars to purchase.

We acquire our used vehicle inventory from a variety of sources, including used-car auctions, corporate suppliers such as vehicle finance, leasing, and rental companies, as well as directly from consumers (including via part-exchanges). During 2022, we continued to scale purchasing cars directly from consumers outside of part-exchanges, via our direct car buying channel in the UK and in the year ended December 31, 2022 approximately 50% of retail units sold were sourced directly from consumers. Vehicles sourced directly from consumers reduce the need to source from third parties and this approach typically lowers the like-for-like cost of acquiring the vehicle.

In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, we purchased from different supplier sources as follows:

We partner with third-party lenders to finance the purchases of our inventory. We had £162 million drawn under stocking loans on December 31, 2022, which enables capital efficient inventory acquisition.

Reconditioning

Each of our cars undergoes an inspection and is reconditioned to a high standard at our preparation facilities before being offered for sale. As of December 31, 2022, we operated a network of eight vehicle preparation centers across the UK, which we have consolidated to three operational retail preparation centers and one operational wholesale preparation center as part of the Revised Business Plans. These three retail preparation centers provide us with the potential to recondition up to approximately 85,000 cars per year.

We typically own the vehicles we have reconditioned and sold, helping us to ensure the quality of our offering. We also sell a small number of vehicles where the supplier owns the vehicle up to the point of sale, but the vehicles still go through our reconditioning and logistics processes. We act as an agent and receive a fixed commission from the supplier when the vehicle is sold.

Customer Centers

As of December 31, 2022, we operated 21 customer centers around the UK, which we have consolidated to seven as part of the Revised Business Plans. We have retained customer centers in the most geographically optimal locations in order to maximize the number of customers who can come to a center to pick up their car and to make our logistics network more efficient. We store, distribute, prepare and hand over cars for delivery at these centers. Both Cazoo car owners and customers who have not purchased a Cazoo car can take their vehicles to these centers for everything from service to MOT and repairs. We continue to operate a Customer Services site which handles customer queries and is a satellite office.

Delivery and Collection

Our logistics infrastructure is capable of operating throughout the UK (excluding Northern Ireland) and offers a high-quality delivery experience with in-house storage, distribution and car service. Customers can have their car delivered to their door or they can collect it from one of our customer centers. Cars being transported from the vehicle preparation center or customer center to the customer are primarily transported by our own fleet of 190 transporters and employed drivers. We use third-party providers for collection of certain wholesale cars for delivery to auctions, and in a limited number of cases we use third-party providers to assist with intra-site movements.

Vehicle Sales and Other Sales

When it comes to selling a car, our main channel is Retail (directly to retail consumers) primarily through our website www.cazoo.co.uk. The secondary channel is Wholesale where we sell vehicles through car auctions to trade buyers and other customers. We also generate revenue from walk-in servicing; subscription services and third-party reconditioning services (which are being wound down following the decision to stop offering our subscription service to new subscribers from the end of June 2022 as part of the Business Realignment Plan). Customers can return a purchased car under our Terms & Conditions and receive a refund.

During the year ended December 31, 2022, revenue generated from retail sales through our platform was £1,103.6 million, with 65,366 retail units sold; revenue generated from wholesale sales was £116.5 million; revenue generated from other sales was £28.5 million. Please refer to the Accounting Policies ⸺ Revenue in the Notes to the audited consolidated financial statements.

Financing

We work with partners including Black Horse, BNP Paribas, Santander and Evolution Funding (a broker with a panel of different lenders) to offer our customers the ability to finance their Cazoo car. As we are a credit broker, not a lender, we aim to find the most competitive deal for the customer from our finance partners.

We offer all standard forms of car financing, as well as the purchase of part-exchange (customer vehicles exchanged as partial payment for a Cazoo car) at the time of delivery or collection for added convenience. We offer Hire Purchase and Personal Contract Purchase finance plans.

Seasonality

Vehicle sales exhibit seasonality with sales peaking late in the first calendar quarter and diminishing through the rest of the year, with the lowest relative level of industry vehicle sales expected to occur in the fourth calendar quarter. Due to our rapid growth, our sales patterns to date have not reflected the general seasonality of the used vehicle industry. Used vehicle prices also exhibit seasonality, with used vehicles depreciating at a faster rate in the last two quarters of each year and at a slower rate in the first two quarters of each year. In the future this may result in a gross profit per unit higher on average in the first half of the year than in the second half of the year but this is not currently the case for Cazoo given our early stage of development.

Business Strategies

Focus on improving unit economics to continue progress towards our goal of reaching profitability

Our 2023 strategy is to focus on further improving our unit economics, reducing our fixed cost base, and maximizing our cash runway. To enable these improvements, we are moving from a high growth multinational European model to a focus on the UK market only, with higher margin and faster moving inventory, together with rationalization of our operational footprint. As part of this strategy we implemented the Business Realignment Plan in June 2022, the winddown of our EU business in September 2022, and the Revised 2023 Plan in January 2023. Together these plans are defined as the “Revised Business Plans”. The Revised Business Plans anticipate us executing on the following key strategies:

Improving our purchasing channel mix and stock selection

Our Revised Business Plans aim to improve the unit economics of the business. We expect that moderating our growth assumptions will allow us to be more selective with the vehicles we acquire and sell, enabling us to focus on higher margin and faster moving inventory. We plan to improve our profitability through a continued shift in our buying mix by sourcing more of our inventory directly from consumers. We believe this approach will lower the like-for-like cost of acquiring vehicles. In addition, we are rebalancing the mix of cars available for sale towards higher margin, more desirable cars. We also expect to achieve continued efficiencies from further enhancements to our products, partnerships, processes, and pricing.

Managing the fixed costs within our business

As part of our Revised Business Plans, we expect to achieve significant fixed cost savings, with the aim of making continued progress towards our goal of reaching profitability. In line with our revised unit expectations for 2023 and the current economic climate, we are making our operational and logistics network more efficient through the closure of certain of our vehicle preparation centers and customer center facilities. We are reducing our network of operational vehicle preparation centers from eight to four (three for retail reconditioning and one for wholesale reconditioning), which is expected to result in significant fixed cost savings. The remaining three retail preparation centers provide us with the potential to recondition up to a total of approximately 85,000 cars per year. We are also consolidating the number of customer centers around the UK from 21 to seven. We expect these closures, combined with further headcount reductions across our central teams, to aid us with our goal of maximizing our cash runway and progressing towards our goal of reaching profitability.

Capture additional revenue opportunities from ancillary products and in-house financing products

We will continue to use our data and technology to launch new products and thereby increase our ancillary revenue opportunities. This includes initiatives to drive higher attachment rates for finance and other ancillary revenue products, thereby increasing customer lifetime value. In Q4 2022, we achieved a record 51.5% finance attachment rate, a testament to the strength of our offering.

Withdrawal from mainland Europe and focus on the core UK market

Following the strategic review of our EU business in September 2022, we announced our decision to withdraw from mainland Europe and focus exclusively on the UK market. The decision to withdraw was based on the material further investment required for Cazoo to scale its operations in the EU and the conflict this had with the Company’s priorities of cash conservation and achieving profitability in the UK. We have now largely exited all of our mainland European operations. Refer to “Item 5 ⸺ Operating and Financial Review and Prospects ⸺ Recent developments” and “⸺European exit” for details elsewhere in this Annual Report.

Information Technology

Data and technology are at the heart of our business. Proprietary data and algorithms sit behind the Cazoo platform. Our information technology systems are managed centrally and cover all key business processes in the value chain including logistics, inventory management and payment functions. Certain of these systems are considered business critical and plans are in place to mitigate failures of these systems.

Our technology teams include product engineering and data teams, are organized by domain, and are aligned to key stakeholders around the business such as purchasing, pricing, merchandizing, operations and logistics, and others. The teams are supported by central platform and design product engineering teams.

We rely on several critical software tools to run our business. These tools are a mixture of proprietary tools developed or acquired by us and third-party tools provided under software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) agreements with third parties. Critical third-party systems include those that provide business IT systems and those that provide tools that power our website, mobile applications, logistics and e-commerce platforms.

In relation to the website, logistics and e-commerce platforms, we have in place key agreements with commercetools (which helps to power our e-commerce architecture), Descartes and Satalia (which power our logistics operations) and Amazon Web Services (which hosts our website).

Alongside significant proprietary code in our website and systems developed by our employees and contractors (each under contracts that assign the IP in that code to us), we also own the IP in a system called “CazooNet,” which is software that we use to support purchasing, photography, vehicle reconditioning and preparation, as well as our service centers.

Intellectual Property 

We protect our intellectual property through a combination of trademark registrations, domain name registrations, and unregistered rights including copyright, unregistered designs, database rights and trade secrets, as well as contractual provisions and restrictions on access to and use of proprietary information.

Our key trademark is the Cazoo name itself, whether used in its plain or stylized forms, or in conjunction with one or more of our marketing slogans. The Cazoo name and logo are protected in the UK through trademark registrations.

We also have proprietary rights in bespoke information technology algorithms, applications and systems that have been developed by or for us for operating our business and for pricing our vehicles. We protect intellectual property and trade secrets developed by our employees in the course of their employment with us through intellectual property assignment and confidentiality provisions in our standard employment contracts.

Like other digital businesses, we use open-source software (“OSS”) libraries in the development of our website and technology platforms. We have invested in enterprise software subscriptions that include OSS code evaluation tools, which enable more structured monitoring of the use of OSS and more mature license management practices.

Marketing

We have built a strong brand identity and we achieved national brand awareness among potential used car buyers in the UK of over 80% in 2022. Our marketing strategy has been one of our key investment areas in order to raise our brand awareness and grow our customer base.

We invested in high reach media channels such as TV, radio, press and outdoor every month of the year in 2022, with our messaging focused on the benefits of buying and selling cars online with Cazoo. We have also entered into a number of high-profile sports marketing sponsorship deals.

Our extensive marketing activities are driving our brand recognition. A key focus going forward is to deliver marketing efficiencies and significantly lower our customer acquisition costs. While we will continue to invest behind our brand, we will prioritize and seek to optimize performance marketing, as we believe that this will drive additional demand and sales on our website in the near future.

Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance

The goal of our Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Committee is to oversee and support our commitment to social, environmental, corporate social responsibility, sustainability and other public and internal policy initiatives relevant to us. We are committed to being a responsible member of the communities in which we do business.

Competition

The UK used car retail market is fragmented and highly competitive with respect to price, quality, service, location and vehicle offering. As of March 2020, there were approximately 15,000 used vehicle dealers in the UK. No dealership group in the UK has a share of the market greater than 3%. Our current and future competitors may include:

Our competitive position is supported by a fully integrated data-driven and algorithm-based model with in-house reconditioning and logistics, and a fully digital customer experience for car buying, selling, financing, delivery, collection and post-sales servicing.

Insurance

We maintain insurance policies covering a range of risks including business interruption, director and officer liability, professional indemnity (for Cazoo Data Services), terrorism, injury to employees, cyber and technology liability, travel, motor, damage to property and stock, as well as coverage against general liability claims that may arise through the course of our normal business operations. We engage an insurance broker to advise on the necessary types and levels of coverage. We continually review our coverage and consult with our broker at least annually.

Regulatory Matters 

We are subject to various laws and regulations affecting the operation of our business including those relating to financial service regulation, consumer credit, consumer rights, zoning and land-use planning, product liability, distance selling, and data protection and privacy, among others.

Financial services regulation

We provide credit broking and insurance distribution services to customers. Under the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“FSMA”) these are regulated activities for which we have and maintain all required permissions with the UK regulator: the Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”).

Cazoo Ltd is registered with the FCA as an appointed representative: a firm that carries on regulated activity on behalf of and under the responsibility of a regulatory principal firm directly authorized by the FCA (an “FCA Principal Firm”). ITC Compliance Limited (“ITC”) (now owned by Fortegra) is the FCA Principal Firm for Cazoo Ltd. Our permitted regulated activities obtained via ITC include entering into regulated hire agreements, advising on and arranging general insurance contracts as an intermediary, and acting as a credit broker.

Cazoo Ltd as an appointed representative is subject to various regulatory requirements governing conduct of business, relations with customers, governance and risk management. It is subject to regulatory supervision and is in regular contact with its regulators.

As part of the Business Realignment Plan, in June 2022 we took the decision to wind down our subscriptions business which involved providing consumer hire services, a regulated activity under FSMA. While we wind down these operations, Cazoo Subscription Services Limited (previously Drover Limited) is directly authorized and regulated by the FCA to provide consumer credit services, including entering into regulated consumer hire agreements. Cazoo Subscription Services Limited is also an appointed representative of ITC to carry out general insurance distribution. 

Consumer protection law

We are subject to consumer protection laws that set quality and service standards and create a range of rights for consumers. These include requirements on sellers and service providers to provide information to consumers, automatic rights for consumers to cancel and return goods, and rights of redress against unfair, misleading or aggressive business practices.

Online and distance selling of goods and services are subject to additional requirements to provide consumers with clear information and to meet certain cancellation and delivery standards. Product liability laws create grounds for manufacturer and seller liability in the event of an injury caused by a defective product.

Data protection law

We collect and process personal data from customers, employees and suppliers as part of our business. As a result of these activities, we are subject to data protection laws and regulations including the UK GDPR and the UK DPA. These data protection laws impose certain restrictions on what we can and cannot do with the personal data we collect and give data subjects certain rights in relation to their personal data. Applicable data protection laws also require us to identify, and safeguard against, risks that arise in relation to certain high-risk processing, which may include the use of algorithms and geolocation data. The applicable data protection laws also oblige us to establish appropriate assessments of the risks relating to the processing of personal data, to establish appropriate technical and organizational measures to reduce the risk of security incidents and to inform individuals of the ways in which we use their personal data.

We have appointed a data protection officer to oversee our compliance with applicable data protection laws and have in place policies and procedures to support ongoing compliance. We conduct mandatory training for our personnel on applicable data protection laws and publish information on how we collect, use and disseminate personal data in data privacy and cookies policies that are published on our website, and in other policies provided to our personnel that may be modified from time to time.

We use cookies and similar technologies on our website to allow our website to work, to analyze and improve our website and to personalize users’ experiences on our website. These activities, as well as direct marketing, are regulated in the UK by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. These rules include an obligation to obtain consent for the placement of cookies on customers’ devices for direct electronic marketing. Changes to these laws are anticipated in the future, which we are monitoring.

Logistics

We maintain operating licenses for the vehicles we operate in the UK and our logistics fleet can be subject to inspections and spot checks by the authorities.

Employees

As of December 31, 2022 we had 3,226 employees employed on a permanent or fixed term basis primarily located in the UK, with further teams in Germany, Portugal, France and Spain. We hire a limited number of temporary workers primarily at certain of our vehicle preparation centers. On January 18, 2023 we announced our Revised 2023 Plan, which included a reduction in headcount. Following the implementation of that plan, as of March 20, 2023 we had 1,511 employees, of which 25 were based in France, 64 in Germany, 4 in Portugal and 1,418 in the United Kingdom.

Our success is highly dependent on human capital and a strong leadership team. We aim to attract, retain and develop staff with the skills, experience and potential necessary to implement our strategy. When selecting and onboarding new employees, we communicate our vision and core values that we expect all staff to uphold, which is underpinned by a business-wide Code of Conduct and Ethics supported by appropriate training programs. We believe that engagement with staff on issues affecting the business is important for our culture and success and aim to do so through regular group-wide and location-specific “all-hands” and “town hall” sessions and other engagement platforms.

None of our employees are represented by a labor union and there have been no work stoppages to date. We generally consider relations with our employees to be good.

Legal Proceedings

From time to time we are subject to various claims, charges and litigation matters that arise in the ordinary course of business. We believe these actions are a normal component of the business in which we are engaged. While it is not feasible to predict the outcome of these matters with certainty, we do not believe that any asserted or unasserted legal claims or proceedings, individually or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.

C. Organizational Structure

Refer to Explanatory Note, Note 25, Group information, within our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report for a listing of our subsidiaries, including legal name, country of incorporation, and proportion of ownership interest. The following diagram depicts the organizational structure of the Company and its subsidiaries as of March 20, 2023.

D. Property, Plants and Equipment

The Company’s headquarters are located in London, UK under a lease agreement that expires in September 2024. As of December 31, 2022 the Company operated 21 customer centers around the UK. Of these customer centers, all were leased. As of December 31, 2022, the Company also leased two further customer centers that were not operational. As of December 31, 2022, the Company operated eight vehicle preparation centers in the UK located in Westbury, Livingston, Nottinghamshire, Bedford, Gloucester, Staffordshire and Bristol. Of the operational UK vehicle preparation centers as of December 31, 2022, two are owned, one is part owned and part leased and the remaining are leased. As of December 31, 2022, the Company also leased three further vehicle preparation centers that were not operational. As of December 31, 2022, the Company also leased two delivery hubs, one of which was not operational.

Following the announcement of the Revised 2023 Plan in January 2023, we took steps to rationalize our footprint. As a result, as of March 20, 2023, the Company operated seven customer centers and four vehicle preparation centers. The Company has assigned two customer center leases, and is in the process of disposing of our remaining vehicle preparation centers, customer centers and hubs, except for one vehicle preparation center which has been mothballed. See “Item 5 ⸺ Operating and Financial Review and Prospects ⸺ Recent Developments ⸺ Revised 2023 Plan” for more details.

ITEM 4A. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 5. OPERATING AND FINANCIAL REVIEW AND PROSPECTS

The following discussion and analysis provides information which Cazoo’s management believes is relevant to an assessment and understanding of Cazoo’s results of operations and financial condition.

This discussion and analysis should be read together with the audited consolidated financial statements and related notes of Cazoo that are included elsewhere in this Annual Report.

Unless otherwise stated, the information included in this section is based on Cazoo’s audited consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (“IFRS”) which may differ in material respects from generally accepted accounting principles in other jurisdictions, including U.S. GAAP.

In addition to historical financial information, this discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. See the section entitled “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” Actual results and timing of selected events may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth under “Item 3.D - Risk Factors.”

A discussion regarding our financial condition and results of operation for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, is presented below. A discussion regarding our financial condition and results of operations for fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, compared to the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, unless otherwise noted, can be found under Item 5 in our Annual Report on Form 20-F, filed with the SEC on May 5, 2022, which is available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and on the SEC Filings section of the Investors section of our website at: https://investors.cazoo.co.uk/sec-filings.

Certain figures, such as interest rates and other percentages included in this section, have been rounded for ease of presentation. Percentage figures included in this section have not in all cases been calculated on the basis of such rounded figures but on the basis of such amounts prior to rounding. For this reason, percentage amounts in this section may vary slightly from those obtained by performing the same calculations using the figures in Cazoo’s audited consolidated financial statements or in the associated text. Certain other amounts that appear in this section may similarly not sum due to rounding.

Overview

Cazoo is an online car retailer. Cazoo was founded with a mission to transform the car buying and selling experience across the UK by providing better selection, transparency and convenience. Our aim is to make buying or selling a car no different to ordering any other product online, where consumers can simply and seamlessly buy, sell and finance a car entirely online for delivery or collection.

Refer to Item 4.B “Business Overview” included elsewhere in this Annual Report for additional information.

2022 Business Highlights

On January 26, 2022 we announced that we had agreed to acquire brumbrum, Italy’s leading digital car retailer and subscription platform, for €80 million in a mix of cash and Cazoo shares. The purpose of the acquisition was to accelerate the launch of Cazoo’s full proposition throughout Italy. Following earlier launches in France and Germany and its acquisitions in Spain and Italy, Cazoo was pursuing the strategy of building a strong presence across the five largest European markets for used cars by replicating its model in the UK.

On February 10, 2022 we announced that we had agreed to issue and sell, via a private placement (the “Note Issue”), $630 million in aggregate principal amount of 2.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2027 (the “Convertible Notes”) . The Convertible Notes are currently convertible into Class A Shares at a conversion price of $100.00 per share. See “Item 5 ⸺ Operating and Financial Review and Prospects ⸺ Recent Developments ⸺ Revised 2023 Plan”. The Note Issue was led by new investor Viking Global Investors, alongside participation from several existing shareholders including Mubadala Investment Company, D1 Capital and Willoughby Capital as well as other new and existing investors. The funds were raised to support Cazoo’s continued growth in the UK and expansion in Europe.

On March 22, 2022 we increased our UK stocking facilities by £25 million with an existing lender. On March 28, 2022, we entered into a €50 million asset-based securitization facility with BNP Paribas (the “BNP Facility”).

On May 12, 2022 we announced we had launched our service in Spain.

On June 7, 2022 we announced a business realignment plan to de-risk the path to profitability and extend the cash runway reflecting the weaker and uncertain external environment. The plan prioritized gross margin and GPU growth, with a focus on cash preservation.

On June 22, 2022, we announced that we had launched in Italy.

On August 2, 2022 we announced the appointment of Paul Woolf as Chief Financial Officer to succeed Stephen Morana during Q4 2022. We also announced the strategic review of our EU business.

On September 8, 2022 we announced the outcome of the strategic review of our EU business, which concluded that the right course of action was for Cazoo to focus exclusively on the UK market. The decision to withdraw was based on the material further investment required for Cazoo to scale its operation in the EU and the conflict it had with the Company’s priorities of cash conservation and achieving profitability. As a result, the Company commenced an orderly wind down of its operations in Germany and Spain and launched consultations with its employee representatives in France and Italy. 

On October 31, 2022 we announced that Aramis Group SA and Cazoo Holdings Limited had reached agreement for Aramis Group to acquire 100% of the capital and voting rights of Cazoo Trading Italy S.p.A.

On November 10, 2022 we announced that holders (“Noteholders”) of 96% of the principal amount outstanding of the Convertible Notes had voluntarily elected to enter into extensions of their lock-up agreements with the Company from November 6, 2022 to September 30, 2023 as a sign of their continued support of the business.

On December 15, 2022 we announced that we had sold our Spanish subscription business, Swipcar, to Renting Finders S.L.

Recent developments

Our recent developments are discussed below:

Revised 2023 Plan

The Revised 2023 Plan announced on January 18, 2023 aims to rapidly improve the unit economics of the business, allowing us to advance towards our goal of profitability. To enable these improvements, we reset our 2023 top line ambitions, allowing us to focus on higher margin and faster moving inventory and to rationalize our operational footprint. See “Item 4.B ⸺ Business Overview” and “⸺ Business Strategies” for further details.

Changes to Management

Effective from April 1, 2023 the roles of Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer will be split with Alex Chesterman continuing in the role of full time Executive Chairman and Paul Whitehead, currently Chief Operating Officer, taking on the role of Chief Executive Officer. The splitting of these roles, which is customary, will allow Mr. Chesterman to focus on the strategic direction of the Company and Mr. Whitehead to focus on the day-to-day operations of the business and unit economics improvements.

Changes to Board of Directors

Effective from close of business on January 31, 2023 David Hobbs stepped down from the Board of Directors. Mary Reilly joined the Board as a Class I director effective February 1, 2023 to serve for the remainder of the full term of a Class I director. Ms. Reilly was appointed as a member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and the Audit Committee and will be appointed as Chair of the Audit Committee following completion of the 2022 audit.

Effective February 28, 2023 Anne Wojcicki stepped down from the Company’s board of directors for personal reasons.

Public warrants of Cazoo Group Ltd

On January 3, 2023 the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”, the “Exchange”) announced that the staff of NYSE Regulation had determined to commence proceedings to delist the our Warrants from the NYSE. Trading in the Warrants was suspended immediately. Trading in our Class A Shares — ticker symbol CZOO — continues on the NYSE. NYSE Regulation had determined that the our Warrants were no longer suitable for listing based on “abnormally low” price levels, pursuant to Section 802.01D of the Listed Company Manual.

Reverse Stock Split and Increase in Authorized Share Capital

On February 8, 2023 we implemented the consolidation of our issued and unissued share capital, par value $0.0001 per share, at a ratio of 1-for-20 (the “Reverse Stock Split”), as well as an increase in share capital (the “Share Increase”).

After giving effect to the Reverse Stock Split and the Share Increase the Company’s authorized share capital is US$435,500, divided into 165,000,000 Class A ordinary shares of a par value of US$0.002 each (the “Class A Shares”), 2,500,000 Class B ordinary shares of a par value of US$0.002 each, 50,000,000 Class C ordinary shares of a par value of US$0.002 each and 250,000 preference shares of a par value of US$0.002 each.

Sale of Cazana Data Platform

On February 22, 2023 we announced the sale of our third-party data platform, Cazana. The disposal aligned with Cazoo’s strategy to focus its business on the UK used car market.

European Exit

In line with our European strategic review to exit mainland Europe to focus on the UK market only, we have largely completed the exit of our European operations.

Germany

In February 2021 we acquired Cluno GmbH and its two subsidiaries (“Cluno”), a German car subscription services company. On February 17, 2023, we announced the disposal of Cluno to ViveLaCar GmbH and The Platform Group GmbH & Co. KG for an undisclosed amount. This disposal will conclude Cazoo’s withdrawal from the German market once completed.

France

In December 2021 we launched our retail proposition in France. As of March 20, 2023 we have largely concluded the orderly winddown of our French retail business. We will continue an orderly winddown of the French subscriptions business.

Italy

In January 2022 we acquired brumbrum S.p.A (“brumbrum”) which was renamed Cazoo Trading Italy S.p.A. post-acquisition. The business was subsequently sold to Aramis Group on October 31, 2022.

Spain

In November 2021 we acquired Swipcar, 2017 S.L. (“Swipcar”), a Spanish car subscription services company. On December 15, 2022, we announced that we had sold the Swipcar subscription business to Renting Finders S.L. The agreement included the sale of 100% of the shares of Swipcar 2017, S.L., along with the Swipcar brand and associated assets. Our Spanish retail business was wound down during Q1 2023.

Key trends and factors affecting the results of our operations

Our financial condition and results of operations have been, and will continue to be, affected by a number of key factors and trends. For a discussion of uncertainties and other factors that could affect our operating results see the section entitled “Item 3.D ⸺ Risk Factors” in this Annual Report. The key trends and factors affecting the results of our operations include the following:

Demand: Shift to online/e-commerce penetration

The purchase of used cars online has experienced significant growth, driven primarily by a shift in the buying behavior of customers and restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic that led to a boost in online buying across many sectors. We are one of a handful of online car retail specialists in the UK offering a fully digital journey. We believe that the high growth in volumes we have achieved in our first three full years of operations is primarily driven by customer appetite for our online proposition. Through our data-driven marketing efforts we continue to drive the shift to online car buying and selling with customers across the UK. Consumers remain willing to consider purchasing their next used car online and are increasingly open to embrace the transparency and convenience of buying and selling used cars entirely online with the “Click and Collect” option appealing to all age groups of up to 54 years old.

The shift to online is disrupting the traditional offline market model, including dealerships and automotive manufacturers. Today, the car buying journey normally begins with research online. Some traditional dealerships have started to transition to a hybrid model, supplementing their offline offering with online and phone purchases. However, for these dealers, the majority of the purchase (and/or sale) journey remains offline. We believe that we may continue to benefit from the acceleration to online buying because we can offer customers clear advantages of our end-to-end online proposition particularly around the range of cars available online, transparency and convenience.

Supply: Inventory sourcing

We strategically source inventory from three channels: auction, corporate relationships and consumers directly. Because the quality of vehicles and associated gross margin profile vary across each channel, the mix of inventory sources has an impact on our profitability.

We continually evaluate the optimal mix of sourcing channels and strive to source vehicles in a way that maximizes our average gross profit per unit and improves our unit economics. We seek to increase the percentage of vehicle sales that we source directly from consumers as purchasing vehicles at third-party auctions is competitive and incurs associated auction fees. We expect that our expanded purchasing from consumers will increase the availability of suitable vehicle inventory at attractive commercial costs.

We believe our ability to increase the percentage of inventory sourced directly from customers will depend on the popularity and success of our e-commerce platform. We expect that as customers experience the convenience of our platform to sell or trade in their used vehicles, the percentage of inventory we source directly from consumers may continue to grow and we expect this would positively impact our profitability.

The supply of vehicles to the market continues to be impacted by the global shortage of automobile microchips. See “Item 3.D ⸺ Risk Factors ⸺ Our business is dependent upon access to suitable vehicle inventory, including the appropriate inventory mix, for resale to customers. Obstacles to acquiring suitable inventory for resale to customers, whether because of supply, competition, or other factors, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects” elsewhere in this Annual Report.

Supply: Inventory financing

Our business as an online specialist depends on having the right volume and range of inventory on our website. The appropriate volume and mix of vehicle inventory are fundamental to our operations and require an ability to finance the acquisition of inventory at competitive rates and across various acquisition channels nationwide.

The availability and cost of financing for vehicle purchases is a significant factor affecting our results of operations. Stocking loans are used specifically to finance the purchase of inventory and typically cover approximately 90% of the car value for an average of 180 days from inception of the loan. The availability of stocking loans provides us with the flexibility to finance our inventory while maximizing liquidity available in the business.

Our ability to continue to access financing at affordable rates to purchase the required mix and selection of inventory is an important factor for our future performance. In 2022 we increased our total available funding facilities. We had inventory of £232.6 million and £161.6 million in stocking loans as of December 31, 2022. In addition, we had £15.0 million in subscription facilities for financing subscription vehicles. The subscription facilities will be repaid as existing subscription contracts come to an end.

Technology: Technology and data

We continue to invest in the data, information technology and security infrastructure, as well as in the core technology-based systems used to drive and support our business. The customer experience on our website is critical to attracting unique users to our platform, converting such visitors into customers, selling a broad range of our products and increasing new customers through referrals. Accordingly, we believe that our ability to make our platform an attractive choice for customers and create a more tailored website experience based on our functionalities and offerings, tailored to customer preferences, may drive higher customer conversion rates.

We believe we have created a unique, best in-class customer experience. We give our customers a fully end-to-end digital buying experience with the entire purchasing and/or selling journey taking place online. We continue to incur expenditure on research and development to develop new products and enhance our existing technology platform.

Additionally, our ability to accurately forecast pricing and customer demand for specific types of vehicles is critical to sourcing high quality, high-demand vehicles. This ability is enabled by our proprietary data that leverages the vast amount of information at our disposal to adjust our supply and sourcing models. We plan to continue to invest in technology and infrastructure to support the performance of our platform. We believe our future performance will also depend on the ways in which we predict customer demand through constant improvement and investment in technology and data.

Economy: Macroeconomic factors

Negative trends in the general economy, including trends resulting from changes in gross domestic product growth, financial and credit market fluctuations, energy costs, international trade relations and other geopolitical issues, including those caused or that may be caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the availability and cost of credit could lead to a decline in consumer discretionary spending and business investment.

Global inflation, including in the UK, increased during 2022 which has resulted in cost increases for labor, fuel, materials and services, and these costs could continue to increase. A further increase in UK base interest rates could result in higher interest on our UK stocking loans and subscription facilities. A further weakening of pound sterling against the US dollar could increase the cost of certain expenses which we incur in US dollars, including the interest payments on the Convertible Notes. We will continue to actively monitor and develop responses to macroeconomic conditions. See “Item 3.D ⸺ Risk Factors ⸺ Downturns in general economic and market conditions and reductions in spending may reduce demand for our products” and See “Item 3.D ⸺ Risk Factors ⸺ Our geographic concentration in the UK creates an exposure to severe weather, the local economy, regional downturns, or catastrophic occurrences in the UK that may materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations” in this Annual Report.

Key performance indicators

We regularly monitor the following key performance indicators to help evaluate our business and trends, identify near-term and longer-term risks and opportunities, measure our performance, prepare financial projections and make strategic decisions. We believe these operational measures are useful in evaluating our performance, in addition to our financial results prepared in accordance with IFRS.

The calculation of our key operating and financial metrics is straightforward and does not rely on significant projections, estimates or assumptions. Nevertheless, there are limitations inherent within these calculations, and these measures may not be comparable to other performance measures used by our competitors. Each of our key operating and financial metrics focuses specifically on only one standard by which to evaluate our business, without taking into account other applicable standards, performance measures or operating trends by which our business could be evaluated. Accordingly, no single metric should be viewed as the indicator by which our business should be measured. Rather, each key operating and financial metric should be considered in conjunction with other metrics and components of our results of operations.

These operating and financial metrics should be read in conjunction with the following discussion of our results of operations and together with our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report. 

UK Retail units sold

Retail units sold is defined as the number of vehicles sold through our retail channel and delivered to customers, net of returns. Retail units sold excludes vehicles sold through auction which are recorded within our wholesale channel. Our retail business is the core proposition of Cazoo and we expect that retail units sold will be the primary driver of revenue generation. Retail unit sales also provide a source of cars through our consumer vehicle acquisition channel (either through direct sales or part-exchanges). Vehicles acquired through this channel can either be reconditioned and added to our inventory or sold through our wholesale channel.

Retail units sold for the year ended December 31, 2022 amounted to 65,366 units compared to 34,718 retail units sold for the year ended December 31, 2021. In the year ended December 31, 2022, 6.7% of used cars sold were returned for a refund. Retail units sold increased throughout the period driven by continued strong uptake of our offering, despite the challenging macroeconomic environment. In 2023, our focus will be on improving unit economics.

UK Retail gross profit per unit

This metric is defined as the aggregate retail sales price and ancillary revenues (including financing commission, warranty commission, paint protection, delivery charges, administrative fees and any add-ons) from all vehicles sold through our retail channel in a given period, less the aggregate costs to acquire those vehicles, the aggregate costs of inbound transportation to the vehicle preparation centers, auction fees, the aggregate costs of reconditioning those vehicles, costs of providing insurance, warranty, fuel and other direct costs associated with providing the car to the customer, divided by the number of retail units sold in that period. This is an important metric that we use to record and forecast the performance and trends of our core retail business. There are a number of drivers of this metric such as our purchasing mix, cost of reconditioning, days to sale, our finance attachment rate and the number of new ancillary products.

For the year ended December 31, 2022 retail gross profit per unit was £403, compared to gross profit per unit of £427 for the year ended December 31, 2021. The decrease was primarily due to an increase in vehicle purchases and reconditioning costs due to the rapid expansion and growth of our business.

Our business plan is to continue to grow retail gross profit per unit, leveraging the improvements discussed in “Item 4.B —Business Strategies”.

UK Ancillary revenue per retail unit sold

Each retail vehicle sale through our website creates an opportunity to sell ancillary products. The products include financing, warranty, paint protection, service plans and affiliate add-ons. Customers buying vehicles from us may enter into a contract for finance through our platform. We receive commissions for the arrangement of these contracts from the lender. When buying a car from us, customers can also purchase additional associated products (including extended warranty, paint protection and service plans), from which we achieve attractive margins. The combination of these ancillary profit sources is an important metric that we use to track and forecast our performance. The ability to generate additional revenue around the vehicle purchase is a key component of GPU.

For the year ended December 31, 2022 ancillary revenue per retail unit sold was £605 compared to ancillary revenue per retail unit sold of £439 for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase was primarily driven by an improved online journey and stock profile, as well as an expansion of ancillary product options.

UK Average monthly unique users

This metric is defined as the average number of individuals who access our website within a calendar month, based on data provided by Google Analytics. We calculate the average monthly unique visitors over any period by dividing the aggregate monthly unique visitors during such period by the number of months in that period. This metric is used to measure the quality of our customer experience, the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns and customer acquisition as well as the strength of our brand and market penetration, which can then be turned into a retail sale.

The computation of average monthly unique visitors excludes individuals who access our platform multiple times within a calendar month, counting such individuals only one time for purposes of the calculation. If an individual accesses our website using different devices or different browsers on the same device within a given month, the first access through each such device or browser is counted as a separate monthly unique visitor.

Our average monthly unique users during the year ended December 31, 2022 decreased to 1,532 thousand users, compared to 1,619 thousand users during the year ended December 31, 2021. The decrease in the average monthly unique visitors was primarily due to optimization of our marketing strategy to focus on higher performance traffic channels, which we believe will lead, over time, to a higher rate of converting website visits into sales.

UK Retail inventory units available on website

Retail inventory units available on website represent the total number of vehicles available for sale on our website on the last day of each reporting period. This may lead to volatility when comparing one period to another. It is important to ensure we have enough inventory to cater to the majority of customers based on customer demand.

Retail inventory units available on website is a key indicator of our performance because we believe that the number of vehicles listed on our platform is one of the key drivers of vehicle sales and revenue generation. Ensuring an adequate number of vehicles listed on our website results in a greater selection of vehicles for our customers, creating demand and increasing conversion.

Our retail inventory units available on our website increased to 7,700 units as of December 31, 2022 compared to 4,683 units as of December 31, 2021. The increase in units was primarily driven by higher retail units purchased during the year and increased reconditioning throughput.

Key components of our operating results in 2022

Revenue

Revenue is recorded for the sale of used vehicles (retail and wholesale) as well as the provision of services (other sales). We recognize revenue net of sales tax.

Retail — We sell reconditioned vehicles directly to customers primarily through our platform. Customers include both consumers and businesses. The prices of vehicles are included in customer contracts at stand-alone selling prices, which are agreed prior to delivery. We recognize revenue when we satisfy our performance obligations for vehicle sales. The amount we recognize as revenue is the agreed upon purchase price stated in the contract less an estimate for returns. Estimates for returns are based on an analysis of historical experience, trends and sales data. We reflect the changes in these estimates as an adjustment to revenue in the period identified. The amount of consideration received for vehicles includes non-cash consideration which represents the value of part-exchange vehicles, if applicable, as stated in the contract.

Retail revenue also includes the fixed commission from the sale of a small number of vehicles where Cazoo acts as an agent. Under IFRS 15 only the net commission received from these sales is recorded within revenue, with 100% of that revenue contributing towards gross profit.

Retail revenue also comprises ancillary products (including financing commission, warranty commission, paint protection and any add-ons), together with delivery charges and administrative fees. Ancillary revenues were previously included in “Other sales”. The comparatives for 2021 and 2020 have been restated for consistency.

Customers buying vehicles from us may enter into a contract for finance through our platform and, if they buy a car, enter into a contract to extend their warranty after the initial 90-day inclusive period. We receive commissions for the arrangement of these contracts from the principal. We recognize commission revenue at the time of sale, net of a reserve for estimated contract cancellations. The reserve for cancellations is estimated based upon historical experience and recent trends and is reflected as a reduction in revenue. Changes in these estimates are reflected as an adjustment to revenue in the period identified.

Wholesale — We sell vehicles through car auctions to trade buyers and other customers. The vehicles sold to trade buyers are primarily acquired from customers as part-exchanges or through our direct car buying channel that do not meet the Cazoo criteria or standards to list and sell as retail vehicles. For wholesale we recognize revenue at the point when the vehicle is sold at auction.

Other sales — We offer walk-in servicing, subscription services, third-party reconditioning and the provision of data services.

At our customer centers vehicle servicing products are offered including interim, full and major servicing, MOT tests, general repairs and one-off checks and treatments. We recognize revenue from such services when we satisfy our performance obligations, which is at the point the agreed work is completed.

We provided third-party reconditioning services during the year ended December 31, 2022, but such services are being discontinued. We satisfy our performance obligations at the point the agreed work is completed.

Revenue from subscription services is recognized under IFRS 16 and as such is recognized on a straight-line basis over the contract period. The subscription service allows customers to subscribe for a vehicle over a period of time for a monthly fee as an alternative to ownership. Revenue from the provision of related services such as maintenance and breakdown are recognized separately in accordance with IFRS 15 – over time, as the service is provided. In connection with our Business Realignment Plan, we ceased offering our subscription service to new subscribers at the end of June 2022.

We also provide data services whereby customers access selected Cazoo vehicle data for a monthly fee. Revenue is recognized in accordance with IFRS 15 based on actual data usage for these contracts.

Cost of sales

Cost of sales primarily relates to vehicle acquisition costs and reconditioning costs, as well as any necessary adjustments to reflect vehicle inventory at the lower of cost and net realizable value.

Vehicle reconditioning costs are the direct costs associated with preparing the vehicles for resale and typically include the cost of parts, labor and inbound transportation.

Our cost of sales also includes the cost of providing drive-away insurance, fuel, vehicle warranty, buyers fees, and other costs incurred in providing ancillary products and services.

Cost of sales also includes the depreciation of cars out on subscription.

Marketing expenses

These primarily relate to the cost of advertising through various platforms, including brand marketing, digital marketing, media costs, agency and production costs, and other promotional expenses such as sponsorships. Our marketing expenditure also includes public relations costs and costs of any customer incentives.

Selling and distribution expenses

Selling and distribution costs mainly relate to the salaries and wages of our employees engaged in the transportation and handover of vehicles, costs incurred in relation to the storage and transportation of vehicles, post-sales costs and payment gateway fees. The depreciation charges of vehicle preparation centers and right-of-use assets (transporters) are also included in selling and distribution expenses.

Administrative expenses

Administrative expenses comprise staff related costs (excluding sales and distribution staff costs), property costs, information technology, external professional services and other general administrative costs.

Our administrative expenses also include depreciation and amortization charges. Amortization is in relation to capitalized development costs, leasehold improvements, software, domain names and other intangible assets. Depreciation expenses within administrative expenses mainly relate to the depreciation of offices and customer centers. These costs are amortized or depreciated over their useful economic lives.

We operate an equity-settled share-based incentive scheme and our share-based charges are included as part of administrative expenses.

Specifically for the year ended December 31, 2022 our administrative expenses included certain exceptional items which were incurred primarily in relation to the restructuring costs as a result of the Revised Business Plans and transaction costs incurred on the acquisition of brumbrum.

Other income and expenses

Other income and expenses includes fair value movement in the Convertible Notes and embedded derivative, fair value movement in the warrants and foreign exchange movements. In 2021, other income and expenses included a non-cash IFRS 2 expense on the Transaction which represented the excess of the fair value of the equity instruments issued over the fair value of the identified net assets received as part of the Transaction.

Finance income

Finance income relates to interest income receivable on bank deposits.

Finance expense

Our finance expense consists primarily of interest incurred on the Convertible Notes, stocking loans and subscription facilities and interest on lease liabilities.

Tax credit

The tax credit relates to the net movements in specific deferred tax items in the period. A deferred tax asset on losses is only recognized to the extent that it matches deferred tax liabilities. 

Loss after tax from discontinued operations

The EU segment was classified as a discontinued operation following the decision to winddown our operations in mainland Europe.

Results of operations

Year Ended December 31, 2022 compared to Year Ended December 31, 2021

Revenue

The following table summarizes our revenue for the periods presented:

Revenue has increased by £593.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 primarily due to increased online orders and rapid expansion of our business.

Retail revenue has increased by £587.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. This is due to an increase in the number of retail vehicles sold, from 34,718 during the year ended December 31, 2021 to 65,366 during the year ended December 31, 2022, driven by continued strong uptake of our offering, the depth and breadth of our inventory levels, increased brand awareness and customer referrals.

Wholesale revenue has increased by £13.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 due to the growth of our consumer car buying channel and the number of part-exchange vehicles received from customers which has grown with retail sales.

Other sales have decreased by £8.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. The decrease was driven by lower revenue from third-party reconditioning as we have been exiting those contracts.

Retail revenue for the year ended December 31, 2022 excludes £1.9 million generated from the sale of vehicles as an agent for third parties. Only the net commission received from those sales is recorded within revenue.

Cost of sales

The following table summarizes our cost of sales for the periods presented:

Cost of sales have increased by £596.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 due to an increase in vehicle purchases and reconditioning costs following the rapid expansion and growth of our business.

Vehicle purchases increased by £586.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 primarily due to an increase in the level of inventory purchases to support the increased demand.

Reconditioning and other costs increased by £10.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 as a result of an increase in the number of cars requiring reconditioning before being listed on our website, and the costs of providing warranties and drive away insurance for cars sold. The reconditioning of third-party vehicles and the depreciation charge of subscription vehicles are also included within reconditioning and other costs. There has been a decrease in reconditioning of third-party vehicles for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Marketing expenses

Marketing expenses have decreased by £0.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 primarily driven by a shift from brand to performance marketing.

Selling and distribution expenses

The following table summarizes our selling and distribution expenses for the periods presented:

Selling and distribution expenses have increased by £42.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily due to an increase in personnel-related costs (selling and distribution staff) of £31.9 million, due to the significant increase in average headcount in the year ended December 31, 2022, to support our growth.

Transportation and storage costs increased by £2.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 primarily due to a larger fleet of transporters, resulting in increases in fuel and mileage, insurance and other costs incurred in the outbound transportation of vehicles.

Depreciation increased by £1.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 reflecting a larger fleet of transporters and a higher number of vehicle preparation centers for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Other costs, which include post sales and marketing costs, increased by £6.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 due to an increase in units sold and growth of our business.

Administrative expenses

The following table summarizes our administrative expenses for the periods presented:

The total administrative costs have increased by £311.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 primarily due to:

Finance income

Finance income has increased by £1.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 due to an increase in average cash at bank and short-term deposits, and an increase in interest rates.

Finance expenses

Our finance expenses are interest on the Convertible Notes, stocking loans and subscription facilities, and interest on lease liabilities. The table below is a summary of the amount recognized for the periods presented:

Finance expenses have increased by £48.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. Interest on Convertible Notes was £41.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 of which £33.4 million was non-cash. Interest on loans and borrowings increased by £3.6 million primarily due to an increase in interest rates. Interest on lease liabilities increased by £3.7 million driven by an increase in the number of leasehold properties and transporters.

Other income and expenses

The following table summarizes our other income and expenses for the periods presented:

The fair value movement in the Convertible Notes and embedded derivative of £198.8 million reflects the decrease in the fair value of the embedded derivative since February 16, 2022.

The fair value movement in the warrants of £47.1 million reflects the decrease in the fair value of the warrants during the year ended December 31, 2022.

Foreign exchange movements of £51.6 million are primarily due to adverse movements in the USD denominated Convertible Notes and embedded derivate and warrants.

In 2021, the one-off, non-cash, IFRS 2 expense of £240.8 million was a result of the Transaction. Cazoo issued shares with a fair value of £288.4 million to Ajax shareholders. In exchange, Cazoo received the identifiable net assets held by Ajax, which had a fair value upon closing of £47.5 million. The excess of the fair value of the equity instruments issued over the fair value of the identified net assets received represented a non-cash expense in accordance with IFRS 2.

Tax credit

The tax credit was £7.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to a tax credit of £2.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The tax credit relates to the net movements in specific deferred tax items in the period. A deferred tax asset is only recognized up to an amount equal to the total of deferred tax liabilities with the excess not being recognized.

Loss after tax from discontinued operations

Loss after tax from discontinued operations has increased by £171.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 due to the launch and subsequent winddown of our operations in mainland Europe.

Non-IFRS financial measures: Adjusted EBITDA

In addition to our results determined in accordance with IFRS we believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information for management and investors to assess the underlying performance of the business as it removes the effect of certain non-cash items and certain charges that are not indicative of our underlying operating performance or results of operations. We believe that non-IFRS financial information, when taken collectively with financial measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, may be helpful to investors because it provides an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating our ongoing operating results and trends and because it provides consistency and comparability with past financial performance.

Adjusted EBITDA is presented for supplemental informational purposes only, and Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool and should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, the analysis of other IFRS financial measures, such as loss for the year. Some of the limitations of Adjusted EBITDA include that it does not reflect the impact of working capital requirements or capital expenditures and other companies in our industry may calculate Adjusted EBITDA differently, or use a different accounting standard such as U.S. GAAP, which limits its usefulness as a comparative measure. Adjusted EBITDA may not be indicative of our historic operating results nor is it meant to be predictive of potential future results.

“Adjusted EBITDA” is defined as loss for the year from continuing operations adjusted for tax, finance income, finance expense, depreciation, amortization and impairment of intangible assets, share-based payment expense, fair value movement in the Convertible Notes and embedded derivative, fair value movement in the warrants and foreign exchange movements and exceptional items which do not relate to our underlying operations. 

The table below presents a reconciliation of loss for the year, the most comparable IFRS measure to Adjusted EBITDA for the periods presented.