Jaguar Land Rover has posted its fourth consecutive quarter of financial losses, losing £273m in between September and December 2018 on revenues of £6.2bn. The company declared a £90m loss for the financial quarter ending in September 2018, and lost £264m in the preceding quarter, while this latest quarterly loss is the company’s biggest ever.
The pre-tax loss was accompanied by a significant adjustment of the company’s balance sheets, with JLR downgrading the value of its assets by £3.1bn. These assets – which can be anything from factories and inventory, to intellectual property rights – have been downgraded to reflect the “muted demand scenario” the company has experienced in recent times.
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JLR’s total assets in 2017/18 were around £27bn, meaning the asset value reduction reflects a hit of over 10 per cent.
JLR sold 144,602 cars in the last financial quarter, a 6.8 per cent decline on the same period the previous financial year. The company has experienced a significant downturn in the key Chinese market, with growth in Europe and America not being enough to offset this.
Dr. Ralf Speth, JLR’s chief executive, said, said: “challenging market conditions in China” were partly to blame for the disappointing financial results, though he highlighted JLR’s “Charge and Accelerate” transformation programme are intended to ensure the company becomes “efficient and resilient”. The programme is intended to bring about £2.5bn in savings over 18 months, and its announcement was accompanied by news JLR would shed 4,500 jobs.