Aston Martin to cut 20% of workforce as losses widen

(Sharecast News) - Aston Martin Lagonda said on Wednesday that it was planning more job cuts as it reported a widening of its losses, citing weak demand and a hit from tariffs. In the year to the end of December 2025, operating losses widened to £259.2m from £99.5m, underlying operating losses widened to £189m from £83m and the pre-tax loss widened to £363.9m from £289.1m.

Revenue fell 21% to £1.3bn and total wholesale volumes were down 10% to 5,448. Net debt rose to £1.4bn from £1.2bn a year earlier.

The company had already warned last week that annual losses would be worse than expected, partly due to US tariffs.

Chief executive Adrian Hallmark said: "In 2025, we navigated a highly challenging trading environment whilst delivering on critical operational milestones. An unprecedented backdrop of geopolitical uncertainties and macroeconomic pressures, including heightened tariffs in the US and China, weighed on our performance and ability to execute our plans effectively."

The car maker also said on Wednesday that it was planning to cut another 20% of its workforce.

"Having undertaken, at the start of 2025, a process to make organisational adjustments to ensure the business was appropriately resourced for its future plans, we had to take the difficult decision at the end of 2025 to implement further changes," it said. "This latest programme will ultimately see the departure of up to 20% of our valued workforce."

The cuts will deliver annualised savings of £40m, it said.

At 1250 GMT, the shares were down 1.7% at 55.93p, reversing earlier gains.

Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Aston Martin's full-year results follow closely in the slipstream of last week's profit downgrade, so there was little in the way of major surprises.

"The poor performance is being blamed on external factors, such as US tariffs and macroeconomic uncertainty. But looking under the hood reveals some internal issues, making Aston Martin's Road to redemption more difficult.

"Production delays hampered the group's performance, leading to multiple profit downgrades over the last year. In an attempt to stem the financial bleeding, the group's been selling a handful of assets to help shore up the balance sheet. Now measures have turned more drastic, and Aston Martin is set to sack up to 20% of its current workforce.

"But that's only part of the puzzle, as these initiatives can only be taken so far. Long-term success will rely on reversing the group's declining sales volumes and benefitting from the improved efficiencies that a greater output would bring. Cutting the workforce so drastically makes a significant ramp-up in volumes hard to achieve, and the road ahead remains a difficult one to navigate for Aston Martin."