Aston Martin shares and bonds sink to record lows over cash crunch fears

{"text":[[{"start":10.4,"text":"Aston Martin’s shares and bonds have sunk to record lows as investors, spooked by the UK luxury-car maker’s cash burn, race to dump their exposure."}],[{"start":21.29,"text":"The sell-off of Aston Martin debt this year has accelerated in the past month, with the price of bonds worth more than £1.5bn falling below 80p on the pound this week from about 95p at the start of the year. "}],[{"start":38.22,"text":"Meanwhile, the carmaker’s shares have also slumped this year and were trading at about 42p on Friday, giving the company a market value of about £430mn. It listed in 2018 at £19 a share and a £4.3bn valuation."}],[{"start":58.019999999999996,"text":"Its largest £1.05bn bond, paying a 10 per cent interest rate, reached a low of 75p on Tuesday. The price drop means that credit investors are now asking for a yield of more than 20 per cent to hold any of the company’s debt."}],[{"start":74.87,"text":"Aston Martin’s poor performance across equity and debt markets comes as it faces a cash crunch in the coming months without a financial lifeline."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":85.37,"text":"“They’re very close to running out of cash and I’m not sure, in this environment, who will be their white knight this time,” said one high-yield credit investor. “We ultimately believe the company will run out of liquidity by the end of the second quarter and be required to raise.”"}],[{"start":103.16,"text":"Aston Martin declined to comment."}],[{"start":107.21,"text":"The group, whose shareholders include Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, China’s Geely and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has struggled for years to generate steady cash flow and profits, depending on support from shareholders to stay afloat."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":124.13999999999999,"text":"Last year, Aston Martin blamed some of its financial woes on a slower than expected rollout of its hybrid Valhalla supercar model. It is also heavily exposed to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on cars imported from the UK."}],[{"start":141.32999999999998,"text":"The company raised more than £125mn last year following the sale of its minority stake in the Formula 1 racing team and additional investment from Stroll, who is also the group’s chair, as it suffered from the impact of Trump’s tariffs on US sales."}],[{"start":161.67999999999998,"text":"Earlier this year, it announced plans to raise another £50mn in cash by selling the rights to use its name for the F1 racing team, as it warned of a bigger than expected annual loss. The sale of branding rights to the F1 team’s holding company, AMR GP Holdings, in effect marks another cash injection from Stroll, who indirectly controls AMR."}],[{"start":188.55999999999997,"text":"Alongside those plans, revealed in February, the company also announced its third profit warning in the past year, telling investors that its adjusted annual loss before tax and interest would be “slightly below” the lower end of analysts’ expectations of £184mn. "}],[{"start":208.14999999999998,"text":"“The shareholders have stepped up, either in the form of equity or with more creative solutions like the naming rights, and investors on the long side need to believe that this will continue to happen,” wrote Helen Rodriguez, head of European special situations at CreditSights, in February."}],[{"start":227.58999999999997,"text":"Aston Martin ended the 2025 financial year with £250mn of cash, before announcing the £50mn it would raise by selling its F1 naming rights, according to annual results signed off by its auditor."}],[{"start":243.62999999999997,"text":"It burned through £321mn of cash in the first half of 2025 and £313mn over the same period in the previous year."}],[{"start":255.27999999999997,"text":"In annual results published in February, Aston said it expected a “material improvement in financial performance driven by an enhanced product mix, benefits from the ongoing transformation programme and disciplined approach to operations” for 2026."}],[{"start":281.31999999999994,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1775979324_3839.mp3"}