Aston Martin ‘on knife-edge’ after crashing to £79m loss

The luxury carmaker blamed falling sales in Britain and Europe, as well as global “macroeconomic uncertainty”, for the poor performance, which sent its shares to a new low.

They closed at 498p, down 12 per cent and little more than a quarter of their £19 float price last October, continuing a woeful performance that has marked one of the worst initial public offerings of recent times. About 1,000 employees of the company that bought shares in the listing are among those nursing heavy losses.

Aston Martin sought to play down speculation that it could be forced to tap shareholders for more cash, suggesting that it would turn to debt markets if needed.

Max Warburton, an analyst at Bernstein, said that the company was “on a financial knife-edge” with “very, very little room for error or further external pressures”. He suggested that it consider suspending executive pay.

Aston Martin is one of the best-known names in British car manufacturing, thanks in no small part to its cars featuring in the James Bond film franchise. It has gone bust seven times in its 106-year history.

Andy Palmer, 56, chief executive, has been seeking to turn around its fortunes with plans to expand its range, including its first sports utility vehicle, the DBX, (pictured above) due to be launched next year.

However, the company has been dogged by doubts over its growth plans since its listing and last week it stunned the stock market by warning that it expected to sell between 6,300 and 6,500 cars to dealers this year, compared with the 6,441 it delivered last year and the 7,200 to 7,400 it had forecast when it was floated. It also warned that profit margins would fall from a forecast 13 per cent to 8 per cent.

Yesterday it reported a £79 million pre-tax loss for the first six months, down from £21 million profit in the same period a year earlier, as revenues fell by 4 per cent to £407 million.

“We are disappointed that our projections for wholesales have fallen short of our original targets, impacted by weakness in two of our key markets as well as continued macroeconomic uncertainty,” Mr Palmer said.

Mr Warburton said that management needed to “hope and pray the DBX can launch bang on time, and save the situation” and in the meantime the company should aggressively cut back costs, including potentially “suspending the top guys’ compensation for a period”.

He said the results showed that Aston Martin had burnt through cash more quickly than expected and that the position was “not comfortable”. Management appeared to be “ruling out an equity-raise”, but raising debt was likely to be announced soon and would be expensive, but was “somewhere between prudent and essential”.

Mark Wilson, 45, chief financial officer, said: “If we require additional financing from sources with which we are familiar and, in particular, in the debt markets to maintain that capacity, then, that’s what we’ll go out and do.” He added that Aston Martin had more cash than a year ago.

Why is education in the US in decline

For many years, the United States has won the admiration of other countries in the world for many reasons, one of which is their excellent educational system, which they have been able to maintain for decades, until recently, when there seems to be a change in the storyline.

Little wonder why it became common practice for parents in other countries to send their children to America for higher education so they could compete favorably in the market and land great jobs.

Renowned scientists and scholars who came to America for higher education can attest to the smooth educational system that existed a few decades ago. Just like their counterparts, they also discovered opportunities for growth and better living, they exploited it and gave us the technology we enjoy today. Thanks to America’s sound educational system.

What is the cause of the suddendecline of education in America?

But what has happened now? Why are American students in disarray? Is there a possible remedy to the solution? All these will be the focus of this writing.

International students have an edge in terms of access to affordable education over American students; this is because education is almost free in most European countries such as Denmark and Finland. It is so unfortunate that American citizens are fast becoming strangers in their own land, paying through their nose to go to school. How did it degenerate to such an extent?

Nowadays, the average American graduate doesn’t even see reasons to go to graduate school any more. By the time, 40% of students graduate, they are already drowned in student debt. A debt that they might end up paying up till their 40’s when they already have full-time jobs and maybe their own families as well. The sad reality is that they would be paying off such debt alongside car loan and mortgage, making them live a life twisted in debts that can even last till retirement age if not handled carefully.

After spending four years as an undergraduate in the USA, the average American graduate is broke and saddled in debts. Worst still, there is likely no chance of recovery in a few years to come. Hence, the hope and dream of reaching out to career advancement are shattered in the air, never to be realized unless the debt is paid. As a result, the educational decline has continued to grow worse because of the little successful transition of each student from college to post-graduate studies.

What is a society without educational advancement and career growth? How can American citizens achieve greater heights when they only go to school halfway and turn to pay debts for the rest of their lives? These are questions that do not just cry for urgent answers but explains the primary reason for the education decline staring at us right now.

How to handle everything in time?

Going to college is hard because it marks the foundation of every successful career. And also it is the best place to develop your writing skills. We are talking about the numerous assignments, essay questions, research paper, and other tedious tasks that the average student has to be hammered with while studying as an undergraduate. Little wonder why a lot of undergraduates visit websites such as https://phdessay.com/ for help – to enable themselves to write effective essays while in school. The service does not just help them to write effectively; it also saves them valuable time, which can be invested in other areas. But the sad reality is that, at the verge of graduation, it will dawn on most students that they may not be able to go to post-graduate school.

Then, they will turn and face their student loan, which is already as high as the mountains. In a bid to pay such loans quickly and be free again, most graduates learn the art of writing and focus on sharpening their skills before they struggle to get well-paid jobs in the US. This process can span from a few months to several years after leaving school.

The psychological effects of debt can be devastating, especially for college and university students. It’s a sad reality that the quality of college education declining is as a result of the inability of undergraduates to afford the fees needed for higher education.

No future without money

What is the fate of the American student who yearns for a sound educational system and hates to reminded that he has a student loan to pay immediately after college? It is therefore no longer shocking to think that the American educational system needs a rebirth. It needs to be wakened from its slumber and re-modified to the advantage of American citizens.

To do this, Congress needs to take a bold step by making education accessible and affordable for all citizens. About 44 million Americans need debt relief urgently. Most of them won’t be able to finish paying their student loans in the next ten years. And as the number of debtors increased, the nation’s reserve is sinking.

Many undergraduates in the USA look forward to the time when they will no longer be scared of postgraduate school. Imagine a time when every American citizen has an equal right to affordable education – only then the education decline will be brought to an abrupt end.