Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) says it has delivered “significantly improved revenue, profit and free cash flow for the fourth quarter and full year” (the year ending March 31, 2023).
Revenues in Q4 FY23 of A$13.3 billion (7.1b pounds) were up 49% (year-on-year) and full year revenue for FY23 of A$42.7 billion (22.8b pounds) was up 25% versus FY22 as chip supply improved further.
Wholesales in Q4 were 94,649 units, up 24% (y-o-y) while full year wholesales of 321,362 were up 9% versus FY22.
Free cash flow in Q4 FY23 of A$1.52 billion (815m pounds) resulting in A$2.4 billion (1.3b pounds) in H2 FY23 and A$976.5 million (521m pounds) for the full year.
Q4 EBIT margin was 6.5%; FY23 EBIT margin was 2.4% up from (0.4%) in FY22.
Q4 FY23 profit before tax and exceptional items was A$689.4 million (368m pounds), says JLR.
Net debt improved to A$5.6 billion (3b pounds) at March 31,2023 with cash of A$7.12 billion (3.8b pounds) and liquidity of A$9.934 billion (5.3b pounds) – including undrawn A$2.847 billion (1.52b pounds) revolving credit facility.
The order book at 200,000 units remains strong in spite of increased retail sales with Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender representing 76% of the book, says JLR.
Investment of A$28.1 billion (15b pounds) over five years is planned in JLR’s electrification and digital transformation.
This includes JLR’s Halewood plant in the UK to become an all-electric manufacturing facility, more than 11,300 employees and partners reskilled for electrification with a further 11,625 in training now, a further three global tech hubs have opened to develop autonomous technologies as part of the NVIDIA partnership, and a new partnership with Tata Technologies to achieve faster time to market though new cloud technologies.
A House of Brands strategy aims to amplify JLR brands: Range Rover, Defender, Discovery, and Jaguar, with Land Rover as a trust mark, visible on its vehicles, websites, social media and retail sites.
A new Range Rover Sport SV will be revealed and available for pre-order this month, while the first pure electric Range Rover will be available for pre-order later this year.
The first of three reimagined modern luxury electric Jaguars will be a four-door GT, built in Solihull, UK, to be unveiled in 2024.
The “Reimagined Defender” goes from strength-to-strength as JLR’s best-selling model in FY23, while the “Refocus transformation” programme exceeded the full year target with A$2.05 billion (1.1b pounds) of savings this financial year.
“JLR delivered a strong set of results for the fourth quarter,” says interim chief executive Adrian Mardell.
“We increased production and delivered revenue, profit, free cash flow and wholesales growth as chip supply continued to improve.
“For the fiscal year ahead, while we are mindful of the headwinds that remain, our target is to increase EBIT margins to over 6% and deliver significantly positive free cash flow to reduce our net debt further, while increasing investment to £3 billion (A$5.6b).
“With the collective strength of our people, we will continue to deliver our Reimagine strategy. “Demand for our exceptional modern luxury vehicles remains strong and with a pipeline of ultra-desirable electrified models on the horizon, I am excited and confident for our future.”
JLR expects the gradual improvements in chip supply to continue during the next fiscal year.
“While supply challenges and macro risks remain, we are targeting to grow wholesales through the year and achieve EBIT margins of over 6% in FY24,” the company says.
“Investment spending is expected to increase to about £3 billion (A$5.6b) in the fiscal year, but free cash flow is expected to be over £2 billion (A$3.74b) and net debt is expected to reduce to below £1 billion (A$1.87b) by FY24.”
