Car-maker’s fundraiser as pandemic hits sales

ASTON Martin is to raise around £260m through new shares and costly debt in a bid to bolster its finances.

The troubled luxury car manufacturer is calling on investors to snap up new shares on the back of falling sales in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

It said it will issue an equity fundraiser worth around 20% of its existing share capital to raise around £190m, with the rest coming in the form of highinterest debt.

The company, famed for manufacturing James Bond’s car of choice, also revealed it has secured £20m from the Government’s CoronavirusLarge Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) to keep it on track.

The cash injection is the latest move by Aston Martin’s new billionaire backer Lawrence Stroll in his bid to overhaul the company.

Mr Stroll, who also owns the Racing Point Formula One team, has named a new chief executive and finance chief in a major leadership shake-up.

The car-maker said the coronavirus outbreak is impacting sales in the current quarter “as expected”, with a fall in retail sales and wholesale revenues.

Nevertheless, more than 90% of the company’s dealer network is now open following shutdowns in the face of the virus.

Mr Stroll said: “We have taken decisive action to improve the cost-efficiency of the company, in alignment with reduced sports car production levels, and are focused on cost and investment control consistent with restoring profitability.

“Today we announce further steps to improve financial flexibility in a period of ongoing uncertainty with this additional funding to execute the business plan.”

Earlier this month, Aston Martin said it plans to cut up to 500 jobs as part of a major restructuring programme.

Aston Martin has a total workforce of 2,600. The Unite union says that the threatened losses will fall almost entirely on the company’s Gaydon plant in the Midlands, which employs about 1,600 people, rather than its new factory at St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan.

The operation currently employs around 600 and is continuing to recruit. Aston Martin hopes at full production it will reach around 750.

It said it first sport utility vehicle, the DBX, made at the former RAF hangar facility, “remains on track for deliveries in the summer and has a strong order book.”