8:43 am, July 26, 2023
Jaguar Land Rover made an improved profit in the first quarter of the year as the outfit continues to move on from heavy losses made in recent years.
The British giant has announced a pre-tax profit of £435m for the three months to the end of June, compared to £368m in the final quarter of 2022.
The figure is also close to a £1bn improvement on the same point last year, when JLR continued to be dogged by ongoing semiconductor issues.
Bosses say the turnaround is largely down to ‘favourable volume [of high-margin products like the Range Rover], mix, pricing and foreign exchange revaluation offset partially by higher inflation and supplier claims’.
In May, the firm announced a new strategy of holding back the manufacturing of models that make it less money in order to prioritise more profitable cars.
That has seen the likes of the Land Rover Defender, Range Rover and Range Rover Sport all taking priority.
The trio – JLR’s three most profitable models – accounted for 76 per cent of all orders in Q1 with figures showing that the company sold 93,523 cars overall in the three months up until June.
That figure represents a a 30 per cent increase on the previous year – with revenues of £6.9bn up 57 per cent on the same period in 2022.
The firm says it had orders totalling 185,000 at the end of June, down from 200,000 in March 2023, though many of its models still have lengthy waiting lists.
Adrian Mardell, who has been acting as interim chief executive of JLR since November 2022 following the sudden departure of Thierry Bollore, has also been officially named as the firm’s new boss.
Richard Molyneux has also been confirmed as JLR’s new chief financial officer.
Mardell said: ‘I am pleased to report a third consecutive quarter of strengthening financial performance for JLR. We have had a strong start to the financial year and delivered our highest production levels in nine quarters and our highest Q1 cash flow on record.
‘This is a testament to the thousands of determined people in the business working tirelessly to deliver every aspect of our Reimagine strategy.’
