Watch this Aston Martin sells assets and trading rights amid 30% sales drop

Aston Martin sells assets and trading rights amid 30% sales drop


Aston Martin's owners, Kuwaiti sovereign wealth fund, Investment Dar, has raised £18.4m from sale of some assets. Photograph Shaun Curry/AFP/Getty Images

The Kuwaiti owners of the luxury British carmaker Aston Martin have embarked on a sale of the carmaker's assets and rights after reporting a 30% slump in sales last year.

Kuwaiti sovereign wealth fund Investment Dar has sold off some of the Warwickshire-based car maker's land and buildings, the distribution rights to sell cars in the Middle East and North Africa and the right to use the name in merchandise such as clothing.

Investment Dar bought a majority stake in company from Ford for about £500m in 2007, using a £200m loan from WestLB bank which is repayable in 2015.

Aston Martin's accounts, seen by the Guardian, reported a pre-tax profit of £6.9m for 2009, a fall of 20% from the previous year. The company said it had slightly increased its market share – by 0.2% – because sales by all luxury car makers fell 32% last year when the global economic downturn was at its most severe.

The accounts also show that the cost of servicing its debt is rising and that £4.5m was spent on advisers fees when it refinanced last year.

The company slashed its spending on research and development by more than half last year, to less than £13m. Analysts said it typically costs hundreds of millions of pounds to launch a new model.

Tim Urquhart, from IHS Global Insight, said: "Admittedly 2009 was a terrible year for most car manufacturers. But it's a question of what damage has been done to the balance sheet while riding out the storm. Unless Aston Martin finds another substantial partner they will struggle to launch a brand new range. They are still using a lot of the technology developed by Ford. Perhaps Investment Dar, which acquired Aston Martin at the peak of the boom in the ultra-premium car market, is starting to find this out."

Investment Dar, which had to restructure its investments in March because of the credit crunch, had been rumoured to be looking to sell its 51% stake in Aston Martin last year.

More recently, David Richards, Aston Martin chairman, said the company could bring on board a partner to access new technology and investment to help launch new models.
Coppied by http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/oct/06/aston-martin-asset-sale