Aston Martin chair Lawrence Stroll not considering sale of luxury carmaker, says CEO

{"text":[[{"start":10.95,"text":"Aston Martin chair Lawrence Stroll is not considering an exit from his investment in the UK luxury-car maker, its chief executive says, as the company haemorrhages cash and struggles to turn itself around."}],[{"start":26.13,"text":"In an interview, Aston Martin CEO Adrian Hallmark defended the £50mn sale of its Formula 1 naming rights to AMR GP Holdings, the racing team’s holding company that is indirectly controlled by Stroll. "}],[{"start":43.66,"text":"The deal, announced last week, had raised concerns among some investors that it paved the way for Stroll to sell the carmaker since he had secured perpetual rights to use the Aston Martin name for the racing team."}],[{"start":59.91,"text":"“I can’t speak for Lawrence directly but everything I’ve seen in the past 15 months demonstrates more commitment to this brand than probably any other shareholder in the history of this brand,” Hallmark said, adding that the sale of the F1 naming rights was “supportive and not an exit strategy at all”."}],[{"start":80.14999999999999,"text":"Last year, Aston Martin raised £52.5mn by selling 75mn new shares to Stroll’s consortium, which increased its stake in the group to 33 per cent from 28 per cent. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, China’s Geely and Germany’s Mercedes-Benz also own stakes in the carmaker. "}],[{"start":102.58999999999999,"text":"After the company raised another £50mn by selling its F1 naming rights to AMR, some shareholders questioned whether the valuation was low. Aston Martin had paid about £20mn a year to AMR — equivalent to 40 per cent of the sale of the naming rights — to put the Aston Martin name on its race cars under a sponsorship deal. "}],[{"start":127.76999999999998,"text":"Chief financial officer Doug Lafferty said the valuation was “independently verified” and that it was “a good deal” for both parties, allowing the group to monetise an existing long-term agreement under which AMR can use the company name in F1 until 2055. "}],[{"start":147.04999999999998,"text":"Despite repeated funding support from Stroll, there has been consistent investor speculation over the Canadian billionaire’s intentions with Aston Martin in the longer term. The company also faces future funding needs with a cash liability of £73mn from 2026 onwards related to a deal with US electric-car maker Lucid to use its technology."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":173.88,"text":"The sale of its F1 naming rights came as Aston Martin on Wednesday reported that its adjusted loss before tax and interest more than doubled from 2024 to £189mn in 2025, while its net debt increased 19 per cent to £1.4bn. The company issued a profit warning last week and confirmed plans to reduce its worldwide workforce by up to 20 per cent as it came under fresh pressure from higher US tariffs. "}],[{"start":209.01,"text":"For 2026, the carmaker projected that its wholesale volumes would probably remain flat at about 5,450 vehicles while its gross margin is expected to improve into the upper 30 per cent level compared with 29 per cent last year."}],[{"start":227.5,"text":"Since taking over as CEO in September 2024, Hallmark has promised to make the company more “boring” in operational terms to bring more stability and predictability to the business. But it has issued repeated profit warnings over the past year as it faced supply chain disruption and uncertainty caused by US President Donald Trump’s trade war. "}],[{"start":253.44,"text":"Pointing to improvements in cost discipline, quality and delivery of its products, Hallmark said he was optimistic about a turnaround for the company."}],[{"start":264.78,"text":"But he warned: “The volatility is still so high . . . so we’re optimistic but we’re on standby for anything that happens.”"}],[{"start":275.22999999999996,"text":"Under the US-UK trade deal that took effect last year, Trump agreed to cut a 27.5 per cent tariff on cars imported from the UK to 10 per cent for the first 100,000 vehicles each year. But the system has created uncertainty since the quota is based on a first-come, first-served basis. "}],[{"start":297.66999999999996,"text":"“The challenge with [the quota system] is that if there is a crisis, the lead time to put changes in place is so long that it creates another crisis,” Hallmark said. “But at the moment, there is not a lot of demonstrable progress in coming to a better resolution.”"}],[{"start":324.98999999999995,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1772062450_1467.mp3"}