Aston Martin’s DBX SUV at its world premiere in Beijing. (Photo by GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)
Aston Martin shares added another 3% Friday, after a huge 20% jump yesterday following unconfirmed reports Canadian billionaire and Formula 1 team owner Lawrence Stroll wants to take control of the storied British luxury sports maker.
By midday Friday, Stroll hadn’t confirmed the reports, which suggested he was organizing a consortium to take a stake in Aston Martin.
Aston Martin didn’t return telephone calls.
Aston Martin is in deep financial trouble. It lost 13.5 million pounds ($17.3 million) in the 3rd quarter of compared with a profit of 3.1 million pounds ($4 million) in the same period last year. For the first 9 months of 2019 pre-tax losses hit 92.3 million pounds ($118 million) compared with a profit of 23.9 million pound ($30.6 million) in the same previous period. Aston Martin has tried to cut costs and reduced investment this year to 300 million pounds ($384 million) from 345 million last year ($442 million).
Last month Aston Martin unveiled the DBX, the first SUV in its 106-year history.
Analysts say Aston Martin might not survive if the DBX flops.
Reuters Breaking Views column wondered whether Stroll’s motives might not be financial, but more concerned with motor sport.
“Stroll is at least familiar with value-munching car ventures: He already owns the Racing Point Formula One team in which his son is a driver. Ensuring Aston’s financial health may not be his primary mission. That would be a good job, because Aston’s recent track record of falling revenue and disappearing margins makes a big sales boost look as outlandish as the next Bond move plot,” Breaking Views columnist Christopher Thompson said.
Aston Martin’s sports cars traditionally star in James Bond spy movies. The next movie will be called, appropriately maybe, “No Time To Die”.
By midday in Europe, Aston Martin shares had jumped another 3% to 6.13 pounds.
Aston Martin shares were floated on the stock market just over a year ago at 19 pounds a share. The company issued a profit warning in July, and it cut its production forecast for 2019 to between 6,200 and 6,500 vehicles from 7,100.
