Aston Martin Lagonda, luxury carmaker has warned on full-year profits on Tuesday amid challenging trading conditions.
In an update for FY19, the company said that the challenging conditions highlighted in November continued through the peak delivery period of December, resulting in lower sales, higher selling costs and lower margins.
As a result, Aston Martin now expects adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of between £130m and £140m for the year, down from £247m in 2018. Analysts had been expecting adjusted EBITDA of about £196m.
It also pointed to higher-than-expected retail and customer financing supports and weaker core model mix weighing on the average selling price, with a shift towards the Vantage.
The group said core wholesales declined 7% year-on-year to 5,809, with Europe underperforming while the Americas, UK and Asia Pacific performed broadly in line with its volume expectations.
The company said it remains in discussions with potential strategic investors which may or may not involve an equity investment.
President and chief executive officer Andy Palmer said: “From a trading perspective, 2019 has been a very disappointing year. Whilst retails have grown by 12%, our best result since 2007, our underlying performance will fail to deliver the profits we planned, despite a reduction in dealer stock levels.
“We are taking a series of actions to manage the business through this difficult period. This will include a cost saving programme alongside a focus on returning dealer stock levels to those more normally associated with a luxury company; winning back our strong price positioning is a key focus.”
