Aston Martin shot up on the London Stock Exchange this Friday after the impressive results obtained by its Formula 1 racing team in free practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix. The debut of the driver Fernando Alonso with the best time in free practice this Friday has become the surprise and sensation at the start of the Formula 1 championship season this Sunday in the Persian country.
Aston Martin shares closed the session up 9.8%, to 2.4 pounds, with a final surge when it was revealed that Alonso had set the fastest time and not even the Red Bull cars of Mark Verstappen and Checo Perez had managed to beat his mark of 1:30.9. Alonso’s Aston Martin Aramco teammate Lance Stroll finished sixth, while Spaniard Carlos Sainz finished 14th in his Ferrari, far from the fastest times.
Aston Martin Quote
It has been the best week possible for Aston Martin, owned by Lawrence Stroll, father of the second driver of the British team that is backed this year by Saudi state oil company Aramco and Cognizant. Since Monday it has risen 18% on the stock market and accumulates a revaluation of more than 50% in 2023 but it has been now when it seems to crystallize.
Massive losses but sells more cars
Outside of Formula 1, Aston Martin is managing to right its course with car sales rising last year and profitability forecast to improve in 2023 after posting massive losses. Last Wednesday, investors rewarded this improvement in their forecasts of results for the coming months. The British company said that in 2024 it will have a positive cash flow on a recurring basis.
The company led by the Canadian businessman Stroll has reported that the increase in its red numbers is due to the weakening of the pound against the dollar, since most of its debt is in US currency. Therefore, Aston Martin has carried out a reassessment and some accounting adjustments to resolve the situation.
In addition to Stroll, who controls 28% of the shares of Aston Martin, the Saudi Arabian sovereign fund (18%), the Chinese millionaire Li ShuFu (7.6%) and Mercedes-Benz (2%) are its main partners. . Its stock market value now increases to 1,700 million pounds, after fattening its capitalization by about 200 million this week. Its price, however, is far from the prices of its IPO in 2018 above 4 pounds.
According to a presentation, the company has posted net losses of £527m in 2022, an increase of 178% compared to the previous year, while its revenue has risen 26%, reaching £1,381m. pounds.
In addition, adjusted operating losses (adjusted Ebitda) have also put pressure on, going from £74m in 2021 to £118m in 2022.
These figures have been affected by the supply chain and logistics disruptions that have hit the auto industry in general. However, the brand has managed to sell 6,412 cars in 2022, which represents an increase of 3.7% compared to the previous year.
