Aston Martin's first-quarter loss narrows, signs $68 million funding with top investor (updated)
29/04/2026 07:25
Rewrites throughout with background and context on funding, cash constraints, shares, outlook Stroll-led consortium provides new financing for Aston Martin First quarter operating loss narrows, helped by Valhalla sales Annual outlook unchanged, but warns of risks from Iran war By Prerna Bedi April 29 (Reuters) - Aston Martin AML.L has turned to a consortium led by top shareholder Lawrence Stroll for a 50 million pound ($68 million) funding boost as it posted another quarterly loss on Wednesday. Best known as the car of choice for fictional British spy James Bond, Aston Martin has been struggling with cash burn and falling sales due to U.S. tariffs and weak demand in China. The British luxury carmaker said its new financing facility from some members of the Stroll-led Yew Tree Consortium and the sale of its F1 branding rights earlier this year would boost its liquidity at the end of the quarter to 230 million pounds. Stroll, who as well as being executive chairman has an almost 33% stake in the firm and owns the Aston Martin Formula One racing team, has pumped around 600 million pounds into the company since he took over in 2020. CFO Doug Lafferty told analysts that the funding facility was signed against some of Aston Martin's assets and had a small commitment fee, but did not provide more details. Aston Martin's efforts to cut costs, including laying off a fifth of its workforce, and strong sales of its hybrid Valhalla supercar helped it post a smaller-than-forecast quarterly adjusted operating loss of 56.9 million pounds. "A good enough performance in a small quarter," Bernstein analyst Harry Martin said of the results. Shares in London-listed Aston Martin were up 6% at 42.4 pence, a fraction of their 2018 debut price of 45.7 pounds. NO DIRECT IMPACT FROM IRAN WAR The 113-year-old automaker said it expects further financial improvement in the year but kept its annual outlook unchanged. Analysts on average expect Aston Martin's annual adjusted operating loss to narrow to 92 million pounds from 189 million pounds a year earlier, a company-compiled poll showed. Aston Martin said it had not yet seen any major direct impact on its business from the Iran war, although it was keeping an eye on the impact on demand and supply chains. Italy's Lamborghini said last week its deliveries and sales were at a standstill in the Middle East. ($1 = 0.7407 pounds) (Reporting by Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Alexander Smith) ((Prerna.Bedi@thomsonreuters.com; +91 98052 24616;))