Aston Martin roars back into profit powered by record revenues

West Midlands-based Aston Martin saw a quarter billion pound surge in profits move it back into the black as sales hit a nine-year high, boosted by demand for the DB11.

Newly released figures for 2017 show the group delivered its highest-ever revenues of £876m, up 48% versus the prior year. Pre-tax profit rose to £87m, reversing a pre-tax loss of £163m in 2016.

The improved financial performance reflected an increase in wholesale volumes to 5,098 units, driven principally by rising demand in North America, the UK and China. Global retail sales increased 58% to 5,117 units up from 3,229 units in 2016.

Aston Martin's chief executive, Andy Palmer, said: “In 2017, we delivered record revenue, full-year profitability and positive free cash flow. The financial turnaround of Aston Martin is now complete, which enables us to drive further improvements across the business as we maintain our new launch schedule and continue delivering on the Second Century Plan.

"The outstandingly positive reaction to our new models gives us confidence that we will deliver further performance improvement in 2018.”

In the last three quarter of 2017 Aston Martin recorded the strongest three-month performance in its history with revenues of £309.2m and pre-tax profit of £64.8m.

Under the Second Century Plan, Aston Martin – based at Gaydon in Warwickshire – is expanding its manufacturing footprint with the construction of a new plant at St Athan in Wales, due to open next year, and has resumed production of specialist models at Newport Pagnell for the first time in 10 years.

The group is expanding its product range with new models including the DB11 Volante and new Vantage, and has begun deliveries of its limited-production DB4 GT Continuation model. In December, Aston Martin completed the acquisition of the AM Brands business, bringing the gGroup’s licensing and luxury design activities in-house.

Chief financial officer Mark Wilson added: “This has been another landmark financial year for Aston Martin, creating a solid foundation for future growth. As part of our ongoing development strategy, we continue to consider a range of strategic options for the future of the group, including the potential for an IPO (stock market flotation). We remain focused on delivering our plans for 2018 and beyond.”