(Reuters) – Aston Martin shares fell 9 percent to their lowest level in more than two years on Wednesday after the British luxury car maker warned its annual profit could fall 11 percent due to of delivery delays and announced new fundraising.
The capital increase, for an amount of approximately 111 million pounds (133.03 million euros), is the sixth fundraising launched by Aston Martin since 2020 and the acquisition of a controlling stake of 20% by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll.
The offer, two-thirds of which would come from strategic shareholders, including a subscription of around £50.5 million by Stroll’s Yew Tree, was priced at 100 pence per unit, a discount of more than 7% compared to the last close of the action.
Aston Martin, whose other major shareholders include Geely and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, has issued several profit warnings in recent years, including one in September after Adrian Hallmark took over as chief executive, the third under the direction of Lawrence Stroll.
The company’s launch of its new core model line over the past 18 months was supposed to boost growth and cash flow. However, supply chain issues and China’s weakness weighed on its performance.
Aston Martin said late Tuesday it now expects adjusted profit for 2024 of between 270 million and 280 million pounds. Analysts had expected adjusted core profit for the year to be between 267 million and 300 million pounds, according to a survey compiled by the company.
Several analysts expected Aston Martin to raise funds after its profit warning in September.
Vehicles of the new Valiant model were supposed to start being delivered at the end of this year, but now only half of them are expected to be delivered by the end of December, and the rest by the beginning of year 2025, the company said.
In February, Aston Martin announced that it would delay the launch of its first electric car until 2026.
The stock fell 9% to 98p in the morning.
(Shashwat Awasthi; Mara Vîlcu, edited by Augustin Turpin)
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