4:28 pm, May 12, 2023
Jaguar Land Rover has managed to slash its pre-tax loss for its financial year to £64m – which it said was £348m better than the year before.
Meanwhile, its results for the year to March 31, 2023, which were released this afternoon, show it made a post-tax loss of £60m, which was a £762m improvement on a year ago.
JLR – which revealed last month that it was killing off the Land Rover name – also posted its financial results for the final quarter, saying its profit before tax and exceptional items for the three months to March 31 was £368m, which was up from the £9m profit it made over the corresponding period a year ago.
It said the higher profitability reflected increased wholesale volumes with favourable mix, pricing and foreign exchange revaluation.
Profit after tax for the quarter was £259m – up from a loss of £95m in the final quarter of last year.
Revenue for the last quarter of the fiscal year was £7.1bn, which was 28 per cent up versus the previous quarter and 49 per cent up compared with the last quarter of the previous financial year.
It posted a full-year revenue of £22.8bn, which was 25 per cent up on the previous financial year, thanks to the chip supply improving further.
Wholesales for the final quarter were 94,649 units – up 24 per cent year on year – while full-year wholesales were up by nine per cent at 321,362.
Its order book was still strong with approximately 200,000 client orders by the end of the quarter, it said. That was down from a peak of about 215,000 in the previous quarter but had been expected.
Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender demand remained particularly strong, it said, with some 152,000 client orders and comprising 76 per cent of its order book.
JLR added that its ‘strong cashflow’ meant it had been able to cut its debt to £3bn.
Interim CEO Adrian Mardell said: ‘JLR delivered a strong set of results for the fourth quarter. We increased production and delivered revenue, profit, free cash flow and wholesales growth as chip supply continued to improve.
‘For the fiscal year ahead, while we are mindful of the headwinds that remain, our target is to increase EBIT margins to over six per cent and deliver significantly positive free cash flow to reduce our net debt further, while increasing investment to £3 billion.
‘With the collective strength of our people, we will continue to deliver our Reimagine strategy.
‘Demand for our exceptional modern luxury vehicles remains strong, and with a pipeline of ultra-desirable electrified models on the horizon, I am excited and confident for our future.’
