LONDON — Aston Martin posted a smaller first-quarter loss of 42.2 million pounds ($59 million) and said it continued to take steps toward profitability, as its vehicle sales to dealers more than doubled.
The result compared with the 110 million pound ($153 million) loss posted in the same period last year, when the automaker brought in fresh investment from its new billionaire chairman, Lawrence Stroll, to shore up its finances.
Revenue in the quarter rose 153 percent to 244 million pounds ($340 million).
Aston Martin has had a tough time since floating in 2018, as it failed to meet expectations and burned through cash.
The arrival of its first SUV, the DBX, which first rolled off the production line in July 2020, has helped to boost the company as it widens its appeal in a lucrative segment of the market. The DBX accounted for 55 percent of the vehicles sold to dealers in the first three months.
In the first quarter, sales to dealers more than doubled to 1,353 vehicles and the company said it was maintaining its full-year guidance that volumes will stand at around 6,000 vehicles.
Stroll has set a target to reach around 10,000 annual vehicle sales and earnings of 500 million pounds on 2 billion pounds of revenue by 2025.
Soon after taking over as chairman last year, Stroll shook up Aston Martin’s management and brought in Tobias Moers, who previously led Daimler’s Mercedes-AMG performance division, as CEO.
“On both our short and medium targets, we remain more confident every day,” Stroll said on Thursday. “It’s the first true, clean quarter that we have had as the new management team running the business and very indicative of what’s to come.”
Aston Martin plans to expand its portfolio of SUVs as well as introduce hybrid and electric powertrains. Moers said the first derivative model on the DBX platform will launch in the third quarter, with another variant planned for next year.
“These are strong results, and while this should have been expected by the market we believe this should support shares as the management turnaround plan continues to gather traction,” Angus Tweedie, an analyst at Citigroup, wrote in a note to clients.
Bloomberg contributed to this report.