Aston Martin today announced its fifth consecutive quarter of profits, as the James Bond car maker geared up for a potential stock market float which could value it at around £4bn.
There was mixed news for the luxury manufacturer, however, as it revealed pretax profit had more than halved to £2.8m in the first quarter due to currency headwinds from a weak dollar. At constant currency, profit rose to £7.4m.
Car sales fell to around 963 from 1,203 in the same quarter last year. Aston Martin said it was expecting the decline since it is preparing to launch the new Vantage – it also boosted investment to £68m ahead of the launch.
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"The strength of our underlying profitability, our order book and our balance sheet give us confidence that we can deliver further growth this year and beyond," said chief financial officer Mark Wilson.
The business refused to comment on an initial public offering (IPO) which has been rumoured for months, with Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan said to be working on the listing.
Aston Martin's private equity owner Investindustrial has been working to turn the company around. Any final decision on an IPO would be down to it and other investors, including a Kuwaiti consortium.
