Aston Martin has secured a multimillion-pound funding boost after posting another quarterly loss.
The carmaker said it had agreed a new £50million financing facility with a consortium led by top shareholder Lawrence Stroll.
It said the funding, along with the sale of its F1 branding rights earlier this year, would boost its liquidity to £230million at the end of the first quarter.
Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll has an almost 33 per cent stake in the firm and owns the Aston Martin F1 team.
He has tried to turn around the carmaker's fortunes, but it has issued a succession of profit warnings in recent years.
Aston Martin has struggled with falling sales due to US tariffs and weak demand in China.
It said cost-cutting measures, which included laying off a fifth of its workforce, and demand for its Valhalla supercar helped to narrow adjusted operating losses from £64.5million to £56.9million.
Aston Martin has trimmed its quarterly losses but challenges remain, say analysts
Chief executive Adrian Hallmark said the brand was ‘on track to deliver material financial improvement this year,’ but remained ‘mindful’ of geopolitical uncertainty.
It said it had not seen any major direct impact on its business from the Iran war but would continue to monitor the impact on demand and supply chains.
Shares in London-listed Aston Martin rose 4.5 per cent to 41.72p.
Mark Crouch, market analyst for eToro, said: Beneath Aston's polished exterior is a business still under significant strain, burning cash as it goes.
'The £50 million funding line from Lawrence Stroll’s Yew Tree Consortium and proceeds from the Formula One naming rights deal provide breathing room, but also underline a familiar reality for investors, Aston Martin remains dependent on financial engineering as much as operational execution.’
Renowned as the car brand favoured by James Bond, Aston Martin said retail sales – those sold directly to consumers – had overtaken wholesale, in addition to a further 102 Valhalla deliveries.
Total wholesale volumes of 939 were similar to the same period last year, while core retail volumes outpaced wholesale volumes by over 50 per cent.
Wholesale volumes fell 26 per cent in the UK and 5 per cent in the Asia Pacific region, and rose 11 per cent in the Americas.