Jaguar Land Rover sales move into the fast lane

Posted on 15 Feb 2012

For the three months to December 31 2011, the car manufacturer achieved revenues of £3.74bn, growth of 40.9% over the £2,66bn achieved during the corresponding quarter last year.

Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) profit after tax for Q4 2011 stood at £440m, a 57% increase on the £280m figure the firm achieved in 2010. Operating margins for the quarter stood at 20.1%, up from 17.4%.

The firm explained that this was due to strong growth in China and Russia which accounted for 22.4% of sales. The Chinese market accounted for 17.2% of JLR’s sales, overtaking the 16.5% share in the UK for the first time in the company’s history.

Supported by a better product and market mix, sales for the quarter grew 36.7% to 86,322 units. The company’s recently launched new products continued to receive a positive response as the Range Rover Evoque clocked up approximately 32,000 wholesale units.

In the nine months to December 31 2011, JLR’s sales stood at 216,412 units, representing a growth of 21.9% compared to the corresponding period last year.

Jaguar Land Rover tied up the revolving credit facility (RCF) with a consortium of banks for committed 3-5 year credit lines of £610 million which has since been upsized to £710 million.

This will enable Jaguar Land Rover to have access to such funding as and when required and enable the optimisation of cash balances, while strengthening the liquidity position.