8:57 am, May 1, 2024
Aston Martin has sunk further into the red with its pre-tax loss nearly doubling to almost £140m, results posted this morning show.
The luxury car maker said that for the three months ending March 31, its deficit before tax deepened by 87% from £74.2m to £138.8m, while adjusted Ebitda fell by 34% from £30.2m to £19.9m.
Wholesale car sales dropped by 26% from 1,269 over the same period last year to 945 this year.
It’s been slowing down production of several older car models ahead of a clutch of planned launches later this year, which it expects to boost its sales later, with deliveries of its new Vantage and DBX707 models due to start by the end of the second quarter.
Meanwhile, its flagship V12 and Special models will see deliveries begin during the fourth quarter.
Aston Martin executive chairman Lawrence Stroll put a brave face on the figures, saying: ‘2024 is a year of immense product transformation at Aston Martin, with the introduction of four new models to the market before the end of the year.
‘Our first-quarter performance reflects this expected period of transition, as we ceased production and delivery of our outgoing core models ahead of the ramp-up in production of the new Vantage, upgraded DBX707 and our upcoming V12 flagship sports car.’
He added that the launches were ‘expected to drive strong financial delivery and positive free cash flow generation in the second half of the year and beyond’.
The Q1 losses were greater than analysts estimated, but the Gaydon-based company said it was still on track to hit its full-year 2024 target.
The results and upcoming launches are the next step in a turnaround at Aston Martin in recent years, after Stroll bought the company in 2020.
Its net debt, which has held back the car maker since an unsuccessful public listing in 2018, grew to £1.044bn from £868m – an increase of 20%.
But it pointed to a £1.2bn refinancing deal, which was completed after several updates from rating agencies, as a sign that its turnaround plan is on track.
Most of its sales – 303 – went to the Americas, with the Europe, Middle East and Africa region excluding the UK the next biggest at 283. The Asia-Pacific region saw 205 sales, with the UK enjoying 154.
Main image: Alamy/PA
