Aston Martin shows a strong order book as flotation speculation grows
Aston Martin has continued to decline to confirm it is on the road to a flotation, despite persistent rumours that they are working with a major investment bank on a stock market listing that could be worth up to £4bn.
Despite a drop in pre-tax profits in the first quarter of 2018, caused largely by the relative weakness of sterling, the underlying performance of the business remains strong, allowing Andy Palmer, the chief executive of Aston Martin to describe the quarter as “positive”.
Once currency movements were stripped out, the quarter was profitable, showing a healthy increase in profits of around 50% to £7.4m.
As the average selling price of an Aston Martin car is now £160,000, the business has found that it can sell fewer cars and maintain its brand values, while simultaneously generating a bigger margin.
The finance chief, Mark Wilson said “The order book is very strong, demand exceeds production: its very difficult to get your hands on an Aston but we are not going to chase every single car. We have to balance supply and demand to retain our exclusivity”.
The company is pushing ahead with a range of new models and is building a factory in Wales, opening in 2019, for the construction of their first SUV, which will be called the DBX.
Whether or not Aston Martin float will be a decision for their shareholders, a group largely made up of Private Equity companies, with a 5% stake owned by the German car manufactures, Daimler.
