Fundraising and the arrival of Lawrence Stroll made official at Aston Martin

With the coronavirus crisis, and plummeting car sales, the announcements produced yesterday after the general meeting ofAston Martin Lagonda raise some doubts about the financial health of the English brand, already affected by significant losses in recent months.

The expected fundraising after previous announcements of the future arrival of Lawrence Stroll, who will serve as executive chairman of the Board of Directors from April 20, has raised nearly 536 million pounds (a little over 600 million euros) including the investment of the Yew Tree consortium led by Stroll, to the tune of 262 million pounds.

Something to reassure, at the time of the important launch of the DBX SUV, but also at the time when Aston Martin must officially arrive in F1 in 2021, based on the Racing Point F1 team, already owned by Lawrence Stroll.

“My consortium co-investors and I continue to believe passionately in the future of Aston Martin Lagonda, indicates the Canadian businessman. This is clearly demonstrated by our £262 million investment which underpins the financial security of the company.

This is a significant capital increase that must be made by my consortium and other shareholders at a very difficult time. This provides the stability needed to reset the business for its long-term future.

We have a clear plan to get there, including the arrival of an official team in F1 next season and I look forward to working with the management team to achieve this program. »

The press release, however, highlights some uncertainties around Aston Martin. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic in recent weeks is clearly mentioned.

“Given the result of this capital increase, the Group does not have sufficient working capital (which allows the company to continue its normal operating cycle) to meet its needs in the 12 months following the publication of previous data on future investments.

This is due to the increased impact, since the company first published data on March 13, of Covid-19 and the ongoing, unquantifiable uncertainty created. »

However, the confidence of administrators remains essential. “At the time of publishing new data, the directors remain confident in the company's ability to trade in the current period, subject to uncertainties relating to Covid-19, and […] remain confident in the adequacy of working capital for at least the next twelve months.

As part of the capital increase process and in light of the evolution of the Covid-19 situation, the company carried out several stress tests on the business plan, taking into account the strengthening of the capital increase. capital and other financing providing additional guarantees to the company in the short and medium term. »

An additional 150 million pounds would thus be available to Aston Martin via several levers, including loan arrangements.