Luxury carmaker Aston Martin Lagonda has laid bare the scale of its challenge to turn around its fortunes as it recorded worse-than-expected losses.
The group saw pre-tax losses widen to £88.7 million in its second quarter from £61.2 million a year ago, leaving it slumping in the red by £154.2 million overall in the first half.
Underlying operating losses narrowed to £52 million in the second quarter from £57 million a year ago, but this was still worse than forecast.
The group insisted it has seen a “materially improved” first-half performance and cheered the sale of 220 of its new Valhalla plug-in hybrid supercar, with orders set to ramp up further in the final six months.
Revenues in the first half jumped 38% to £628.6 million, with wholesale sales by volume up 21%.
Adrian Hallmark, Aston Martin chief executive, said: “First half 2026 demonstrates that we are on track to deliver material financial improvement this year compared with 2025.
“Second quarter 2026 total wholesale volumes increased by 43% compared to the prior year period.”
He added: “We expect an even stronger second half, as transformation benefits flow through and Specials deliveries continue.”
The group has been knocked by rising tariffs in the US and higher taxes on luxury cars in China, while it has also turned to lenders for more funding to help shore up its balance sheet, alongside a cost-cutting programme.
It last week agreed a £550 million debt funding deal from BlackRock-owned HPS Investment Partners, having already secured more than £600 million from chairman and biggest shareholder Lawrence Stroll since he took control of the firm.
Aston said the Middle East conflict was another headache.
It said: “The recent conflict in the Middle East has presented the latest macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty.
“The group has managed to limit the direct impact to the business in H1 2026 and continues to monitor the evolving situation and its potential impact on global demand, customer confidence and supply chains.”
London-listed Aston Martin has been pushing forward with efforts to turn performance around under Canadian billionaire Mr Stroll.
In February, Aston announced up to nearly 600 jobs are being cut across the group as it posted widened annual losses.
Aston said it would reduce its 2,800-strong global workforce by up to another fifth, after 170 job cuts were announced at the start of last year.
It said the redundancies came as part of aims to cut costs by around £40 million, most of which would be stripped out this year.
