Strong Chinese and US demand drives revenues at Aston Martin

Published by

Nicky Godding

Aston Martin Lagonda, the Warwickshire-headquartered luxury car marque which floated in the London Stock Exchange late last year.

The car manufacturer has reported revenues up 6 per cent at £196 million in seasonally small quarter.

However, adjusted EBITDA is £28m down year-on-year, driven by planned higher costs supporting product expansion said the company.

Wholesale units were up 10%, driven by continued strong demand in Asia Pacific (+30%) and Americas (+20%), offsetting softness in the UK (-9%) and Europe (-4%).

The company’s product expansion continues.

Product expansion continues with the development of DBX, Aston Martin's first SUV, is on track; First oroduction trial commenced 15 April and testing programme continues.

Dr Andy Palmer, Aston Martin Lagonda President and Group CEO, said: "Despite declining total industry volumes, Aston Martin Lagonda has delivered a sales increase that reaffirms its position as a luxury marque that offers some resilience to these wider automotive trends. Our Q1 results, yielding a 12% increase in core car wholesales and a 39% increase in global retail sales, demonstrates both this resilience and the demand-led approach of our business model. Moreover, the retail growth in the Americas, which almost doubled is encouraging as it vindicates our focus on and effort in this important region.

“This overall sales success across the range has allowed us to rebalance the excess dealer inventory from last year's supplier issues, and we see more normal stock levels prevailing for the rest of 2019.

“Our preparations for the DBX are unchanged and on track. First Production Trials began exactly on-time and remain on plan. The three concepts we revealed at Geneva elicited a positive response from customers and media alike. AM-RB 003, for which we will sell 500 coupes at around £1m each, is over-subscribed and we now have the task of allocating to our customers from an ever-growing list.

“We remain conscious of the challenging external environment in certain of our markets and we have taken this into account in our planning whilst ensuring we do not compromise on delivery. Our guidance is unchanged. We expect our normal H2 seasonality to be amplified by Specials which are heavily weighted to Q4 this year. We are putting all the right building blocks in place as we look towards 2020 with the first sales of the DBX, investing in a disciplined manner, and controlling costs, to ensure the continuing, successful execution of the Second Century Plan."

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.