JLR’s financial recovery gathered pace after it boosted revenues, profits and orders in the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year and posted its best-ever free cashflow in the period.
Revenues stood at £6.9 billion in Q1, an increase of 57% year on year, while profits before tax and exceptional items were up nearly £1 billion on the previous year, at £435 million, giving an EBIT margin of 8.6%, up from 6.5% in the previous quarter. This was negative a year ago.
The free cashflow for the quarter was £451m, while net debt was down to £2.5bn, as JLR worked towards its goal of being net cash-positive.
“The good financial performance in the quarter reflects the strength of our luxury brands,” said Richard Molyneux, JLR’s recently appointed chief financial officer.
JLR’s wholesales for the quarter were 93,253 units, a 30% rise year on year but a small decrease on the previous quarter – something that JLR said was down to shipping schedules. “However, total production was up by a quarter,” read a JLR statement.
The firm noted an improvement in chip supply and other constraints and now sits on 185,000 orders, down from 200,000 at the end of the last quarter, which is “in line with expectations”.
Of those orders, the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Land Rover Defender make up just over 75%.
JLR said the new Range Rover Sport SV Edition One, which costs nearly £200,000 in its fully loaded guise, was already sold out ahead of its launch, a further indication of the ability of the company's pricing to increase ever upwards.
These are the first set of results since Adrian Mardell was confirmed as JLR's permanent CEO, a title he held on an interim basis since last year.
“I'm pleased to report a third consecutive quarter of strengthening financial performance for JLR,” said Mardell. “We've had a strong start to the financial year and delivered our highest production levels in nine quarters and our highest Q1 cashflow on record.
"This is testament to the thousands of determined people in the business working tirelessly to deliver every aspect of our Reimagine strategy.”
One of the first steps of that plan, which also includes a full reboot of the Jaguar brand, is an electric Range Rover, which remains on track to go on sale later this year ahead of deliveries in 2024.
JLR expects its Q2 results to report lower production and cashflow numbers due to the summer shutdowns at its plants, but this shouldn't impact profitability or wholesales.
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