Talk of Aston Martin going public has now been fulfilled after the company launched itself this week on the London Stock Exchange.
25 percent of the company was floated, with a total 57 million shares being listed which debuted Wednesday at $24.60 under the ticker symbol AML. The opening price valued the company at $5.6 billion, shares dropped as low as $22 mid-day, before closing out the session at $23.44.
Aston’s move comes in the wake of Ferrari’s 2015 high profile IPO that saw the company float 10 percent of itself, valuing it at $9.8 billion at the time of listing. Last month we saw Chinese electric car startup, Nio, list itself at $6.4 billion on the New York Stock Exchange.
In the lead up to the IPO, Aston Martin established a board of directors, naming Penny Hughes as chairman while keeping Andy Palmer as chief executive officer.
The company has never been in better financial shape, it reported a profit of $54 million for the first six months of the year, and is expected to deliver between 6,200 and 6,400 vehicles this year. There was also a special share offer made to eligible Aston Martin employees, customers and owners' club members based in the United Kingdom.
Some of the company’s existing private shareholders are believed to have cashed out. However, Mercedes continues to own its stake of 4.9 percent, while other key Aston Martin shareholders include Italy's Investindustrial and Kuwait's Investment Dar.
Financial performance will only continue to get better as the company is only a year away from opening its second plant which will focus on building higher volume models like an SUV, along with spearheading the company’s electrification efforts. Plus, wait for the cash to start rolling in for the absolutely mental Valkyrie hypercar.
No comments:
Post a Comment