McLaren set for the stock market

McLaren is set to cash in on its recent product purple patch with a dabble on the stock market.

In an interview with UK newspaper

The sale would see McLaren follow in the tyre tracks of Ferrari, which publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange in October, 2015. Aston Martin is also reported to be preparing for float within the next 18 months.

The development comes after McLaren’s meteoric surge in the supercar market. The British firm appeared out of relative obscurity seven years ago when it was spun out of the McLaren Formula One team.

In 2016, McLaren delivered its fourth successive year of profits and now boasts annual production of 3200 cars. Its most recent Australian arrival, the 720S, is subject to a long waiting list commensurate with McLaren’s rise in the local market.

The Woking-based manufacturer has received several takeover approaches, including tilts from the Chinese. However, in the weekend report, Flewitt said that McLaren’s owners did not want to sell.

“The more successful we become, the more attractive we become to people who want to invest,” Flewitt told The Times. “I still think a public float of this business in three to five years is a better route.”

McLaren is on track to deliver 15 new models by 2022, and has raised its production forecast to between 3500-4000 vehicles in 2017. That’s roughly half of Ferrari’s annual production.

Those figures bode well for a possible McLaren float. Ferrari’s share value has climbed by about 62 per cent since it was first listed on the NYSE.