Aston Martin profits grow as car sales nearly double

Warwickshire-headquartered luxury car maker Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC has reported a significant rise in third-quarter profit, with the number of cars sold almost doubling.

In its first results since listing in London earlier this year, Aston Martin reported pretax profit of £3.1 million for the three months to September, multiplying from £300,000 the year before. In the nine months to September, the figure climbed 16 per cent to £23.9 million.

Aston Martin, the preferred car of fictional spy James Bond, posted adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation of £54.4 million, 93 per cent higher year-on-year. In the year-to-date, adjusted Ebitda is up 32 per cent to GBP160.3 million.

Total wholesale volumes increased to 1,776 from 891 year-on-year, and in the year-to-date they have risen 22 per cent to 4,075. Revenue has risen 81% per cent for the quarter to £282.4 million, and year-to-date by 28 per cent to £727.3 million.

The average selling price of a car in the quarter was £136,000, down  seven per cent  year-on-year due to a shift towards the Vantage and V8-engined models.

Aston Martin said the rise in unit sales was mainly driven by growth in the Americas and Asia Pacific, including in China, where sales more than doubled. Unit sales in the UK, its "home" market, rose 66 per cent.

Aston Martin is making good progress on its new plant at St Athan in Wales, where the new DBX model will be built, and it hopes to have production going in 2020.

Looking ahead, the company said it expects further unit volume growth, while sales are expected at the top end of its guided range of 6,200 to 6,400 units.