Aston Martin shares drop as it falls to a loss and sets aside £30m for Brexit
Aston Martin fell to a £70m loss in 2018 as it counted the cost of floating on the stock market, it revealed today, capping a year in which its disappointing debut saw shares lose a third of their value.
The figures
The luxury car manufacturer fell to a £68.2m loss before tax last year, down from an £84.5m profit in 2017, as it took a £136m hit from the costs of its October initial public offering.
But it pointed to an 18 per cent rise in adjusted operating profit to £146.9m.
Revenue soared 25 per cent year on year to £1.09bn however, as car sales climbed 26 per cent to 6,441 units.
Net debt fell to £560m as Aston Martin cut out £173m over the year.
Diluted earnings per share plummeted to minus 31p, down from 36.5p in 2017.
Why it's interesting
Shares fell 7.7 per cent in early morning trading to 1,268p as Aston Martin also set aside £30m to battle potential headwinds from Brexit.
The car manufacturer also hired a chief purchasing and supply chain officer in advance of the UK’s departure from the EU.
“Investors pressed the ejector seat following Aston Martin’s latest update, the Bond favourite veering off-road as it announced a £30m fund to deal with any Brexit disruption,” said Spreadex financial analyst Connor Campbell.
He added that the loss also hurt Aston Martin’s stock, as well as boss Andy Palmer’s comments to Reuters that a delay to Brexit would only cause “further annoyance”.
However, the firm said 2019 guidance is on track as it refreshed its core sportys car range with the Vantage and DBS Superleggera, as well as plans for a DBX SUV model underway.
What Aston Martin said
Group chief executive Andy Palmer called 2018 an “outstanding” year for the firm, despite a 35 per cent drop from its debut share price of 1,900p to 1,223p by the turn of the year.
“Our well-defined expansion plans, that combine outstanding high-performance cars with iconic brand-status, are on track as we manage through the uncertainties and disruption impacting the wider auto industry,” he added.
“We are confident that Aston Martin Lagonda will deliver another year of growth. Whilst we are mindful of the uncertain and more challenging external environment, particularly in the UK and Europe, we remain disciplined in our execution and maintain our guidance for financial year 2019, whilst also reconfirming our medium-term objectives.”