Restructuring is the final element of the masterplan. Beguiled by the luxury brand boom and peak Chinese demand, Aston predicted a 10,000 annual volume when Lawrence Stroll, the Canadian apparel billionaire, and his Yew Tree Consortium bought into the company in 2020. Ferrari delivered 13,752 cars in 2024, its record year; Aston 5,448 last year. And that’s despite a £2.2-billion investment: “big money for a little business.”
Restructuring has taken costs down by 30 per cent
The problem is, as the CEO colourfully describes it, “Aston turned up to the biggest ever party just as the lights were coming on. We were launching all these cars into luxury’s hangover phase.” He cut production by 1,000 in his first month, enacted two rounds of redundancies, and rightsized the business to around 6,000 cars a year. Hallmark reckons he’s taken out 30 per cent of the cost base.
“We’ve got 26 programmes [focusing on] costs and profits and cash improvement, and we’re nine months in. You’ll start to see the benefits at the back end of this year and into the next.”
It can’t come soon enough. Aston was recently forced to sell the naming rights to its Formula 1 team in perpetuity (to its owner Stroll), raising an additional £50m. A string of profit warnings has plagued Hallmark’s time, with last year’s US tariff crisis contributing to a £189-million pre-tax loss. Does Aston need new investors?
“No,” the CEO replies. “If we deliver the plan we generate our own money. It’s the number one priority to get us to a point where the company is profitable and growing the cash position – instead of burning it. The shareholders have been amazing. But even I get embarrassed going back and asking them for money.
“We thought it would take 18 months to flick the business into [the black],” concludes Adrian Hallmark. “Probably it’ll take more like two years. Watch this space.”
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