Aston Martin IPO values ​​James Bond’s favorite car brand at $5.6 billion

Aston Martin is joining the ranks of listed automakers with an IPO that values ​​the British company at more than $5 billion. But the first day of trading in London did not start well.

The favorite carmaker of fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond priced its shares at £19.00 ($24.70), giving it a valuation of £4.3 billion ($5.6 billion).

The final listing price is 16% below the top of the range targeted by Aston Martin, reflecting investors’ doubts about whether the carmaker should be valued in the same league as Italian rival Ferrari.

Shares fell about 5% in London trading.

Publicly, the British company is asking investors to shrug off fears about U.S. threats to impose taxes on foreign autos and the potential for Britain’s planned exit from the European Union to disrupt supply chains and markets.

Aston Martin, which has a history of bankruptcy filings, is now making healthy profits.

It sold more than 5,000 cars in 2017, its best performance in nine years. This generated record revenues of £876 million ($1.1 billion), up nearly 50% from the previous year.

Earnings for the first half of this year suggest the momentum is continuing. Revenue was up 8% compared with the same period a year earlier, while profit rose 14%, according to data published last month.

Aston Martin has tried to leverage its high-end brand in recent years. But Bernstein analysts see several potential problems.

He argues that the Aston Martin brand is not that strong ferrari ,race,Which is strengthened by decades of racing history and multiple Formula 1 championships. The British automaker has much lower margins than its Italian rival and a worrying history of uneven sales.

With the money raised from the IPO earmarked for existing shareholders rather than investment in the company, Aston Martin executives may be pinning a lot of hopes on the success of a planned SUV.

“Given its current financial position and apparently less robust demand, it remains a major challenge for us to see how it can possibly match Ferrari’s profitability,” Bernstein analysts wrote recently. “We don’t see it coming anywhere close.”

Aston Martin’s owners include Mercedes-Benz parent company daimler ,DDAIF,Private equity firm Investindustrial and Kuwait-based investors.

CNNMoney (London) First Published October 3, 2018: 4:38 AM ET