Aston Martin, which has achieved
a 13 per cent increase in revenue for 2013 to £519 million, is to share development of “world-class bespoke V8
powertrains” with Mercedes AMG.
Aston Martin Holdings (UK) Limited, in announcing its full year results
for the 12 months ended 31 December 2013, also revealed full-year EBITDA up 22
per cent to £84.8 million.
The company also revealed global
retail volumes have recovered after the “challenging market conditions” of 2012
to rise 11 per cent to “about 4,200”.
This compares with a retail sales
volume figure of some 3,800 units declared in the 2012 results when the full-year
adjusted EBITDA figure was revealed as £69.3million.
No figure for 2012 revenue
was given in the company’s press statement dated 11 April 2012. However, in
October 2013 the company’s results filed at Companies House, London revealed
2012 sales of £461.2 million with a pre-tax loss of £24.6 million compared with
£21.2 million the previous year.
Aston Martin chief financial officer, Hanno Kirner
commented this week: “We have made excellent progress on a number of fronts in
2013: growing our global sales, improving our EBITDA and building further on
the company’s strong brand as we celebrated our centenary around the globe.”
“We will, in the next few years, be implementing the
biggest investment programme in our 101-year history, preparing the ground for
new and exciting products in the future,” he added.
In last year’s statement Kimer confirmed that "The recent £150 million
capital increase supports a significant new product investment programme of
more than £500 million over the next five years.”
And Aston Martin chief executive
officer, Dr Ulrich Bez added at the time: "We have started 2013,
our centenary year, at the forefront of design and technology with the launch
of Rapide S and we look forward to welcoming our new investors,
Investindustrial.”
As part of its refreshing strategy, Aston Martin
confirmed late last year that it had created a business association with
Daimler AG to prepare for the powertrain challenges that would be required to
meet future demands from the market. Developing an entirely new engine family by
itself would be an extremely costly venture for the UK-based company.
And Kimer noted this year that “Our strong ownership
structure and strategic partnership with Daimler AG, finalised in December
2013, provides us with a solid foundation for the unprecedented investment
programme that will underpin our future growth.”
“We are engineering a completely new architecture and
technologies to ensure that our next generation of sports cars is at the
forefront of design, performance and technology. The strategic
partnership with Daimler AG will bring with it cutting edge electrical and
electronic expertise, and the shared development of world-class bespoke V8
powertrains.”
The company restated this year that in order to
facilitate the biggest investment programme in the history of the brand, the
company’s capital structure had been significantly strengthened in April 2013
when experienced sector investor, Investindustrial, joined Primewagon and Adeem
Investment and the other existing shareholders.
It is understood that for its £150 million investment Investindustrial
has a 37.5 per cent stake in Aston Martin Holdings (UK) Limited.
According to Aston Martin, the 2013 results benefited
from an improved model and market mix and the 13 per cent increase in revenue
was supported by full year sales of the Vanquish Coupe and the launch of
anticipated Vanquish Volante and V12 Vantage S models in Q4. In addition the
company strengthened the existing dealer network and opened in new markets,
including Mexico and Thailand.
The company does not however break out individual model
sales figures, including those of the Rapid S. It will be recalled that in June
2011, Aston Martin decided not to continue the cooperation with
Austrian-Canadian Magna International which began manufacture of the Rapide at
a facility operated by Magna Steyr in Graz in 2009. Aston Martin explained at
the time it could build the car "more effectively" at its
headquarters' plant in Gaydon, Warwickshire. Many Aston workers at the time
believed the Rapide could have been built at its former Newport Pagnell,
Buckinghamshire headquarters and now restores classic Aston Martins and Lagondas.
The company also no longer makes the Cygnet, the result
of its joint venture with Toyota. It remains to be seen if Aston Martin's latest collaboration is third time lucky for the company.
A consortium purchased Aston Martin Lagonda from Ford in
2007 for £500 million.
Aston Martin will file its 2013 results at Companies
House in September. ∎
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