Pinewood Technologies lowers earnings guidance on delay to Marshalls rollout

(Sharecast News) - Pinewood Technologies Group said on Wednesday that the rollout of its Pinewood.AI system with Marshall Motor Group would be delayed until the second half of 2026, pushing back earlier expectations and weighing on near-term earnings guidance, although the company reaffirmed its medium-term targets. The London-listed group said it had been working closely with Marshalls since signing a five-year contract in October 2024 to integrate the Pinewood.AI platform alongside a range of complementary technology upgrades.

While the process had taken longer than anticipated compared with expectations outlined in September, Pinewood said the revised timeline would support a more effective long-term outcome.

The rollout had previously been expected to begin in the first quarter of 2026.

Pinewood noted that Marshalls had expanded its dealership network since the agreement was signed, adding brands including Geely Auto, Omoda, Jaecoo, BYD and Genesis, which it said had strengthened the strategic opportunity underpinning the project.

Elsewhere, Pinewood reported that its implementation across Lookers dealerships remained on schedule.

The rollout began in July, with a number of OEM brands now live on the platform, including a 13-store go-live across Lookers' Mercedes-Benz sites in February.

The full rollout was expected to complete in the fourth quarter of 2026.

In North America, Pinewood said its system was already live in various stages and performing as planned, with ongoing testing of dealership functions in collaboration with Lithia.

The company said it expected to begin a broader rollout in the region in the second half of 2026.

Separately, Pinewood announced it had acquired its final remaining reseller in the Netherlands for £3.3m in cash.

The deal was expected to contribute between £0.7m and £0.8m in incremental annual EBITDA and supported its strategy to take full control of its international sales and customer service operations while expanding in central Europe.

Reflecting the delayed Marshalls implementation, Pinewood said underlying EBITDA for the 2026 financial year would come in below current market expectations.

However, the board reiterated its guidance for underlying EBITDA of £58m to £62m by 2028, supported by visibility from existing contracts and a strong pipeline.

"We are proud to be part of the continuing growth story of Marshalls and Constellation Automotive Group," said chief executive Bill Berman.

"As they partner with a number of new OEM partners, we look forward to helping them drive their business forward with the Pinewood.AI system delivering productivity improvements and increased efficiencies.

"I am encouraged by the progress of the Lookers rollout, which reflects the strength of collaboration between the Pinewood.AI and Lookers teams.

"We remain on track to complete the Lookers implementation on schedule.

"Preparations for our rollout with Lithia in the US also continue at pace, with module testing progressing well as we prepare to launch later in 2026.

"Our team have done an excellent job on the North American market work so far, on both the integrations needed and the product localisation.

"We are now close to entering what is comfortably the biggest market in the world, with over $9bn of addressable revenue.

"The acquisition of our Netherlands reseller highlights our commitment to growing Pinewood.AI's customer base in Central Europe.

"We have acquired a very successful business and an excellent team who will help us accelerate our growth in this key region."

Pinewood said it would report its full-year 2025 results on 22 April.

At 0917 GMT, shares in Pinewood Technologies Group were down 9.58% at 212.56p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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