LONDON: Luxury British carmaker Aston Martin is seeking a valuation of up to £5.07 billion ($6.7 billion) from its stock market flotation and has taken steps to prepare for any eventuality over Brexit, it said on Thursday.
The company, famed for making the sports car driven by fictional secret agent James Bond, said last month it was pursuing an initial public offering (IPO), the first British carmaker to do so for decades.
The automaker will publish a prospectus later on Thursday and hopes to announce its final pricing on or around October 3. It expects its shares to be admitted to the London Stock Exchange on or around October 8.
Carmakers have warned about the impact of any customs checks introduced as a result of a no deal or hard Brexit which could slow down production and add costs when Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019.
The boss of Aston, which builds all its cars in Britain, said the company had boosted its stock of engines and components in case free and unfettered trade with the European Union ends in a few months’ time.
“We’re up to five days of engine stock for example and we’ve got a very large warehouse in Wellesbourne (in central England) where we have at least five days of car stock,” Chief Executive Andy Palmer said
“If there are tariffs ... for every car we lose because of a 10 per cent tariff into Europe, we presumably pick up from Ferrari and Lamborghini in the other direction because obviously their cars become more expensive in the UK,” he said.
London and Brussels hope to conclude a Brexit agreement by the end of the year but fellow carmakers such as BMW and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) are worried that failure to agree could lead to snarl-ups at motorways and ports disrupting production. — Reuters
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