INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightReutersAston Martin, the luxury British carmaker famed for kitting out James Bond, has issued a profit warning after a "very
disappointing" 2019.Shares in the 106-year-old firm plunged by as much as 16% after it said annual earnings were expected to fall by nearly
half from a year earlier.But the fortunes of BMW-owned rival Rolls-Royce were very different.Rolls-Royce, the car of choice for those who
like to be chauffeured, sold a record 5,100 vehicles last year.Profits stallIn a trading update, Aston Martin said the "challenging trading
conditions highlighted in November continued through the peak delivery period of December resulting in lower sales, higher selling costs and
lower margins".It said core retail sales - which covers sales from Aston Martin dealers to consumers - were up 12% from a year earlier
However, wholesale volumes - which covers how many cars the dealers are ordering from Aston Martin itself - were down 7% to 5,809."From a
trading perspective, 2019 has been a very disappointing year," said Aston Martin chief executive Andy Palmer.The company said it was
expecting earnings of between £130m and £140m, well below the £247.3m it reported last year.Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Rolls-Royce said its Cullinan SUV had proved very popular
When Aston Martin listed its shares on the London
Stock Exchange in October 2018, its shares were priced at £19 each
However, the latest bad news has now dragged the share price down to about £4.50."It is remarkable that a company with such a strong brand
can consistently issue bad news," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell."Aston Martin has been one of the biggest flops on the
stock market in living memory and today's trading update does nothing to improve its tarnished reputation."The big question is why wealthy
people aren't buying its luxury cars
Working for this company should be a marketeer's dream, but the team responsible for attracting customers clearly haven't got the formula
right."Global appealRolls-Royce boss Torsten Müller-Ötvös told the TheIndianSubcontinent that a big driver of its higher sales was the
launch of the Cullinan SUV, which he said now had "very stable, robust" orders.But he said sales were not expected to grow at the same rate
in 2020.Part of the difference between the successes of the two brands could come down to how they define themselves."We are not really in
the car business, we are in the luxury goods business," Mr Müller-Ötvös said."We are famous for bespoke, so you can basically customise a
Rolls-Royce to build your own masterpiece, and I think that has attracted quite a lot of clients worldwide."
