Aston Martin’s share price has taken another hit after the firm announced a pre-tax loss of £78.8 million in the first half of this year. The price is now below £5 a share for the first time, hitting a low of £4.40 as trading opened this morning before rebounding to £4.88 after Aston held a press conference. The losses were blamed on lower-than-expected sales in Europe and expansion costs – but company boss Andy Palmer insists the firm’s ambitious growth plan remains on track. The publication of Aston Martin Lagonda’s latest results came a week after the firm issued a profit warning in which it cut its wholesale forecasts. That first caused shares in the company to dive to less than £6 per share, compared to £19 when the firm first floated in October 2018. Aston’s retails sales in the first half of 2019 were up 26% year-on-year, with growth in the USA and China off-setting a steep decline in the UK and Europe. Wholesale volumes – cars being distributed to dealers – were up 6% year-on-year. Aston boss Palmer admitted that “this has been a difficult period and we’ve clearly seen the market reaction”. But he noted that the firm’s sales were up year-on-year, and added: “I’m confident we are taking the right actions and that we can successfully deliver our strategy.” While sales were up, driven largely by demand for the Vantage and DBS Superleggera, Aston’s revenues dipped in part because it sold fewer high-price Special models, reducing the average selling price of its cars. The firm anticipates sales of its Specials will increase later this year, particularly with the ultra-limited run DB4 GT Zagato Continuation due in the fourth quarter. In its profit warning last week, Aston Martin revised planned wholesale volumes for the full year. From 7100 to 7300 units originally forecast when it published its annual results in February, the target has now dropped to 6300 to 6500 units. Palmer said that reduction was a result of the firm being “responsible and disciplined in the approach to our balance sheet”, and was designed to ensure that supply of the firm’s cars did not exceed demand, which could force dealers to offer discounts. He added: “Retails are up, wholesales are up, market share is up – we’re just not as up in wholesale as we’d like. In order to protect the market position of the brand we thought it right and proper to cut the wholesale (numbers) to ensure that we don’t simply make the mistakes of history and have to discount cars to get them away.” Aston’s profits were hit by a one-off £19 million provision for a ‘doubtful debt’ charge, relating to the planned sale of some intellectual property rights in the previous year. The firm has also invested heavily in its ambitious Second Century growth plan, and particularly in developing the DBX SUV, which is due to be launched in December and go on sale early next year. Palmer said that Aston remained “focused completely” on the execution of the plan, and insisted that the wholesale volume revisions and falling share price wouldn’t impact that. “We recognise there are headwinds and continuing uncertainties, and you’d correctly expect us to keep our financing arrangements under review to ensure we have appropriate resources around us,” said Palmer. He noted the first has greater cash reserves than it did this time last year, and would be prepared to secure additional funding “from sources with which we’re familiar” if needed. He added: “Our basic intention is the execution of the (Second Century) plan. We have some short-term headwinds and one would hope we move through this short-term correction and then carry on with what we’re doing. “You always take opportunities to be leaner and fitter, and that we will do. We’ve seen through the development of DBX so far that the efficiency of the development is much greater than it was with DB11, (with) far fewer design changes, far fewer needs to correct things not modelled correctly. “That efficiency and things we learn through development are then cascased into (development of the) Vanquish replacement and eventually the Lagondas. We’ll take the opportunity of those learnings, but the plan remains
Origin: Aston Martin shares slide further after 2019 loss posted
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Aston Martin shares fall as uncertainty hits sales
Shares in Aston Martin have dived as the Gaydon-based car maker cut its sales and profit forecasts, attributing the fall to weak markets in the UK and Europe and economic uncertainty. The luxury marque said it was “taking immediate actions to improve efficiency and reduce the costs base as (it) heads into 2020”. Shares fell 22% in early trading, taking them down to around £8, a 55% fall over the £19 price which valued the company at £4.3bn when it first floated in October 2018. Aston Martin’s revised wholesale volumes are now 6300 to 6500 vehicles for the full year, down from the 7100 to 7300 units forecast at the time of its annual results in February. Wholesale car sales fell 22% in the UK and by 28% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while it was a rosier picture elsewhere: in America, now Aston Martin’s biggest market, volumes rose by 20% in the first half of the year. Aston Martin said retail sales grew by 26% in the first six months of 2019 but the poor performance in wholesale – which grew by only 6% globally – prompted a downgrading of full-year financial expectations. Along with a revised outlook on volumes, Aston Martin is expecting full-year figures to see an adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) margin down 20% and profit margin down 8%. Aston Martin said: “We anticipate that this softness will continue for the remainder of the year and are planning prudently for 2020.” Chief executive Andy Palmer has previously warned of the potential impact a no-deal Brexit could have on the car industry. The marque said that production of its DBX SUV and Valkyrie hypercar “remain on plan”. It added: “During the first half, we have been disciplined, as appropriate for our luxury positioning in maintaining the quality of sales with core wholesales up 9% supporting a continued reduction in dealer inventory as we prepare the network for DBX.” Palmer commented: “Whilst retails have grown by 26% year-to-date, our wholesale performance is adversely impacted by macro-economic uncertainty and enduring weakness in UK and European markets. We are disappointed that short-term wholesales have fallen short of our original expectations, but we are committed to maintaining quality of sales and protecting our brand position first and foremost. “We are today taking decisive action to manage inventory and the Aston Martin Lagonda brands for the long-term. We remain focused on the successful execution of the Second Century Plan and on delivering sustainable long-term
Origin: Aston Martin shares fall as uncertainty hits sales
Uber shares steadily falling, marking the company another Wall Street flop
A person holds a mobile phone with the Uber app showing on it.Ryan Remiorz / The Canadian Press It was to usher in nothing less than a new era for Wall Street: UFAANG.’ That ungainly acronym meant to put ride-hailing company Uber in the same league as the titans of tech: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google. But by Friday’s closing bell, the most talked-about start-up of the decade and the biggest initial public offering (IPO) of the year qualified for a different club—of losers. Done in by a broad stock market selloff and a weak earnings report posted by its primary rival, Uber plunged immediately at the opening of trading May 10, falling as much as 8.8 per cent from its IPO price of US$45 per share, a level that was already at the low end of bankers’ expectations. The stock closed at US$41.57, and Uber joined a small group of major IPOs that ended their first day down. Day One doesn’t necessarily determine the fate of a stock, of course. But Uber’s rough opening startled investors counting on a more jubilant debut from Silicon Valley’s quintessential unicorn. Many venture capitalists who had piled into the company were saddled with losses as the market capitalization shrank to US$69.7 billion. It all cast a pall on 2019’s prospects as the hottest year for tech listings this decade—and potentially on the future of the ride-hailing industry. Lyft Inc. followed its bigger competitor to end Friday down 7.5 per cent, almost US$21 below where it sold the stock just six weeks ago. Uber could certainly still join the celebrated group of popular tech stocks, even with a tough ride out of the gate. Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s chief executive officer, said in an interview on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange that trade tensions between the U.S. and China played a role in the weak performance. President Donald Trump had moved overnight to slap fresh tariffs on Chinese goods. “You can’t pick when you go public,” Khosrowshahi said. Still, Uber shares extended losses into Monday, sinking below US$38 per share, even as U.S. equities stabilized on renewed optimism that an all-out trade war can be averted. Khosrowshahi said in the interview that while profitability was a priority for the company, public market investors should be judging Uber by a different measure once it starts reporting quarterly earnings. “The most important sort of statistic to look at is bookings, because that reflects essentially what people are paying for the service,” he said. Uber sold 180 million shares for US$45 each Thursday, after marketing them for US$44 to US$50 apiece. Even at the low end of the price range, Uber’s listing was the ninth-largest U.S. IPO of all time and the biggest on a U.S. exchange since Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s US$25 billion global record-holder in 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. A market value of less than US$70 billion is a considerable climb down from earlier projections: Last year, bankers jockeying to lead the offering told Uber it could be valued at as much as US$120 billion in an IPO. The San Francisco-based company last raised private capital from Toyota in August at a valuation of about US$76
Origin: Uber shares steadily falling, marking the company another Wall Street flop
Tesla shares video of Roadster’s wild acceleration
Tesla Roadsterhandout Tesla has released a short video showing the acceleration capabilities of its forthcoming Roadster, but we’re not sure why. The video shows the company’s new Roadster, an all-electric sports car with performance that’s promised to be wild. The video even has the caption of zero to sixty faster than you can read this caption, but the timing of this teaser is curious. The Tesla Roadster has been rumoured to hit 60 miles per hour from a standstill in just 1.9 seconds by using a specially named launch control system called Plaid Mode, as a reference to the movie Spaceballs — which itself references the hyperspace from Star Wars. View this post on Instagram Zero to sixty faster than you can read this caption tesla.com/roadster A post shared by Tesla (@teslamotors) on Apr 19, 2019 at 11:01am PDT The post is suspiciously timed, considering it was shared on the same day as security footage captured a Tesla Model S spontaneously erupting into flames in a parking garage. Could this be a way to deflect the attention from that and onto the California company’s upcoming model? It’s not beyond the realm of possibility. The security footage in question captured a first-generation Model S in Shanghai, bursting into flames without warning. There were no casualties, but that doesn’t make the incident any less alarming. The video was posted by ShanghaiJayin on Twitter, who also posted a video of a Nio ES8 setting fire at a repair centre. There have been at least 40 reports of new energy vehicles setting on fire in 2018, which includes plug-in hybrids, EVs, and
Origin: Tesla shares video of Roadster’s wild acceleration
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