, Columnist
Aston Martin Thought It Had Won the Lottery
The carmaker booked 20 million pounds of profit for selling some IP to a Chinese startup, but it may never recover the money. There's a lesson here.
Running out of road.
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Any investor worth their salt knows that a company’s profit is only an opinion, while cash is a fact. A peculiar contractual dispute involving the beleaguered luxury carmaker Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings Plc illustrates this point rather well.
Ahead of its initial public offering last October, the British firm published a prospectus detailing its recent financial track record. The perennially loss-making company had achieved a small 20.8 million pound ($25.1 million) pretax profit for the first six months of 2018. Good news.