Aston Martin launches £500m emergency funding round

Luxury car maker Aston Martin has announced plans to raise £500 million in emergency funding.

Aston Martin launches £500m emergency funding round

Billionaire Lawrence Stroll is to supply the struggling company with £182m, with the rest of the funding coming from the firm’s existing investors.

Mr Stroll owns part of the Racing Point Formula 1 team, which will be branded Aston Martin from 2021 under the new deal.



The funding announcement comes only hours after the company held a board meeting to discuss how to support the firm.

The carmaker said its latest financial moves were aimed at strengthening its balance sheet after its “disappointing performance” in 2019, The BBC reports.

Earlier in the month, Aston Martin issued a profit warning saying that annual earnings were expected to drop by almost half from the year before.

Aston Martin said its core retail sales were up 12% from a year earlier, however, wholesale volumes had fallen by 7% to just 5,809. The firm was expecting earnings of between 3130m and £140m, significantly below the £247.3m reported last year.

Aston Martin said its latest financial moves intended to strengthen its balance sheet after a “disappointing performance” in 2019.

Mr Stroll’s consortium will take a 20% stake in Aston martin and he will become the car maker’s executive chairman. This means that Penny Hughes will step down as chairman once the deal is completed.

Ms Hughes said: “The difficult trading performance in 2019 resulted in severe pressure on liquidity which has left the company with no alternative but to seek substantial additional equity financing.

“Without this, the balance sheet is not robust enough to support the operations of the group.

“Notwithstanding recent weak trading, the strength of the Aston Martin brand and our expanding portfolio of cars has allowed us to attract a strong new partner in Mr Stroll to support the turnaround of the business.”

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