After a disastrous first year on the stock market, Aston Martin was starting to look like a firm only the most diehard petrolheads would want to invest in.
But its luck may have changed – if a recent rally continues.
The James Bond favourite surged 10.7 per cent, or 56.6p, to close at 586.8p, and its shares have risen by a third since it launched its first family SUV a week ago.
The jump has added about £340million to Aston’s market value, which now stands at around £1.3billion – although this is still far short of the £4.3billion it was worth when it floated at 1900p per share in October last year.
Aston Martin’s DBX, the firm’s first SUV, costs £158,000 with the typical target customer seen by the company as a 40-something Californian working mother called Charlotte
Aston has pinned hopes of a revival on the £158,000 DBX, with the typical customer seen by the company as a fortysomething Californian working mother who is called Charlotte.
It has had a small but steady news stream this week, teaming up with British Airways on ten limited edition, Concorde-inspired cars, and a partnership with distiller Bowmore to make whiskies and other products. And on December 6 it will officially open the Welsh factory that will build the DBX.
But the real driving force behind the rally is the warm reception the vehicle has received.
Under a loan deal, Aston will need to tell the stock market when it has had orders for 1,400 DBXs, which could take a while.
Investors will just be relieved to see the share price graph go up.
Stock Watch – Blackbird
Online video group Blackbird soared after it inked a deal with Bloomberg Media that will bring in ‘significant’ annual revenue.
Blackbird provides a platform that lets companies edit and publish videos online.
Its service allows people to work on videos at the same time without needing to be in the same place, which makes the process fast and saves money on hardware.
Shares in AIM-listed Blackbird yesterday jumped 41.2 per cent, or 5.25p, to 18p.
Sofa seller ScS blamed Brexit and political uncertainty for customers tightening the purse strings, as like-for-like orders dived 7.1 per cent in the 17 weeks to November 23.
While few shoppers consciously think ‘I can’t buy a sofa because of Brexit,’ data suggests many are putting off home renovations, big-ticket purchases and moving home until there is more certainty and it is clear what will happen to property prices.
At the moment they don’t know if it would be better to move or stay put, so are holding off spending on things such as furniture.
ScS shrugged off the gloom, rising 1.4 per cent, or 3p, to 225p.
Marston’s climbed despite an annual loss of £20million – from a profit of £54.3million last year – after it had to cut the value of underperforming pubs by £43million.
Last month it warned profits would be lower than expected because customers have been drinking more but spending less on pub grub.
Shares in the company, which has around 1,400 pubs in total, rose 3.1 per cent, or 4p, to 131.4p, as sales in the year to September climbed 2.9 per cent to £1.2bn.
Rival publican Mitchells & Butlers was feeling more glass-half-empty after Berenberg brokers downgraded its stock from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’, sending shares 2.1 per cent lower, or 10p, to 457p.
They said that after upgrading M&B to ‘buy’ in June its shares have rocketed around 70 per cent sand are ‘at least due a pause for breath’.
The FTSE 100 touched its highest level since August, hitting 7446, as US President Donald Trump said trade talks with China were in the ‘final throes’ ahead of a deal.
It closed 0.4 per cent higher, or 26.64 points, at 7429.78, while the FTSE 250 rose 0.2 per cent, or 89.4 points, to 20,954.32.
Engineer Rolls-Royce slid 3.4 per cent, or 25.2p, to 715.8p, after Morgan Stanley cut its rating to a neutral ‘equal-weight’, saying issues with some of its engines were likely to keep soaking up spare cash.
Rio Tinto fell 0.4 per cent, or 17.5p, to 4239.5p, after it approved a £580million investment in an iron ore mine in Australia.
Events and data giant Relx shed 0.2 per cent, or 3.5p, to 1876.5p as it snapped up Dublin-based medical technology firm, 3D4Medical, for £38.4million.
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