Aston Martin posted a bigger-than-expected first-quarter pretax loss on Wednesday because the British luxury carmaker made fewer cars and burned extra cash than analysts anticipated, sending its shares 7% lower.
Aston Martin, which has launched several recent cars over the past yr including its next-generation sports cars the DB12 and Vantage, stopped production of old models ahead of the ramp-up in production of fresh models later this yr.
“Our first-quarter performance reflects this expected period of transition,” Chairman Lawrence Stroll said.
The shares fell as much as 14% to their lowest level since November 2022 and were last down 7% by 0837 GMT. The second quarter’s performance is anticipated to be broadly just like the primary however the group kept its 2024 forecast unchanged.
“This miss would raise questions, in our view,” analysts at JP Morgan wrote in a note.
Aston Martin in March named Bentley boss Adrian Hallmark as its recent CEO to switch Amedeo Felisa later this yr.
“I do not expect there to be a major deviation when Adrian comes, the truth is I feel we’ll double down and execution will remain absolutely the priority,” finance chief Doug Lafferty told analysts.
“We all know the priorities within the short term are get the product portfolio launched and construct that demand, hit the free money flow inflection point within the second half of this yr and take that momentum into 2025,” he added.
The corporate reported wider adjusted pretax losses of 111 million kilos ($138 million) for the three months ended March 31, compared with 57 million kilos a yr earlier. Analysts, on average, were expecting a lack of 93 million kilos.
Total wholesale volumes got here in below expectations and free money outflow was also larger than expected for the quarter.
Aston Martin is scheduled to start out deliveries of its V12 flagship sports automobile that will likely be propelled by a brand new engine, within the fourth quarter. It had pushed back its first electric vehicle by a yr to 2026.
This Article First Appeared At www.autoblog.com
