Aston Martin claims profitability will improve this year after a rough 2022

After a tough 2022, Aston Martin expects profitability to improve this year

At the Gaydon factory, an Aston Martin Valkyrie is driven off the line

As it begins deliveries of its next-generation sports cars in the third quarter, Aston Martin said it expects profitability to improve this year and to turn free cash flow positive.

It forecast wholesale volumes of about 7,000 units for 2023, slightly below average market expectations of 7,134, but its outlook for an adjusted core profit margin of about 20% exceeded analysts’ expectations.

By 0816 GMT, the company’s shares had jumped 7% to their highest level since July last year.

Last year, Aston Martin hired former Ferrari NV CEO Amedeo Felisa as its new CEO in a bid to emulate the Italian carmaker’s success.

By 2024, the company hopes to become sustainably free cash flow positive, helped by last year’s capital raising, which made Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) its second-largest shareholder.

In 2022, the Gaydon-based group expects its core average selling price to rise 18% to 177,000 pounds. Its revenue grew 26% to 1.38 billion pounds ($1.67 billion) last year.

Due to supply chain snarls that delayed deliveries of its cars, the British company reported an adjusted operating loss of 118 million pounds for the year ended Dec. 31.

According to a company-compiled consensus, analysts expected an adjusted operating loss of 135 million pounds for 2022.