McLaren Group, the British supercar maker and Formula One team-backer, has given lenders signs of an improvement in its financial performance even after a £375m impairment charge propelled it to a record loss last year.

Sky News has learnt that McLaren has told bondholders that it made losses of £873m in the 12 months ending 31 December.

The Woking-based company’s financial travails reflected an ongoing financial restructuring that was completed earlier this year.

Mumtalakat, Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, has taken full ownership of the group, and is now engaged in talks about technology partnerships which could lead to the sale of a minority equity stake in McLaren.

According to the results, which have not yet been released publicly, it recorded a £375m non-cash impairment charge to reflect asset writedowns relating to production problems.

In the first quarter of the 2024 financial year, however, McLaren reported its best quarter for nearly five years, with an underlying profit of £3m on revenues which rose by 52%.

Responding to an enquiry from Sky News, McLaren said its start to the year reflected a 28% increase in wholesale volumes with its 750S model sold out into 2025 and orders for the GTS ahead of expectations.

Paul Walsh, McLaren’s executive chairman, said: “These results demonstrate the strong fundamentals in our business, where demand for our iconic high-performance luxury sports cars exceeds supply, and where our outlook is improving following major transformation actions over the past year.

“We can look forward to a bright future with a simplified shareholder structure, a clean balance sheet and significant opportunities to forge partnerships to drive future growth.”

In an attempt to drive sales growth, McLaren has expanded its retail network with the opening dealerships in Australia, Japan and the brand’s largest showroom in Dubai.

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McLaren, whose road car models also include the Artura Spider, P1 and Senna, has seen some of its former shareholders taking warrants which would benefit from a future ‘liquidity event’ such as an initial public offering or sale of the company.

McLaren Racing, the division which directly houses the F1 and other racing operations, has its own external shareholders following a deal struck during the pandemic.

Simplifying its structure should pave the way for a technology partnership with an automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in the coming years as McLaren transitions towards becoming a hybrid and electric vehicle company.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company was forced into a far-reaching restructuring that saw hundreds of jobs axed and substantial sums raised in equity and debt to repair its balance sheet.

Its finances became so strained that it repeatedly tapped Mumtalakat for new funding, as well as striking a sale-and-leaseback deal for its spectacular Surrey headquarters.

In 2021, it also sold McLaren Applied Technologies, which generates revenue from sales to corporate customers.

Founded in 1963 by Bruce McLaren, the group’s name is among the most famous in British motorsport.

During half a century of competing in F1, it has won the constructors’ championship eight times, while its drivers have included the likes of Mika Hakkinen, Lewis Hamilton, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.

In total, the team has 180 Grand Prix wins, three Indianapolis 500s and won the Le Mans 24 Hours on its debut.

The company saw its separate divisions reunited following the departure in 2017 of Ron Dennis, the veteran McLaren boss who had steered its F1 team through the most successful period in its history.

Mr Dennis offloaded his stake in a £275m deal following a bitter dispute with fellow shareholders.

Sainsbury’s has claimed it is winning over customers from its rivals after reporting higher than expected profits.

The country’s second-largest supermarket chain announced on Thursday its underlying pre-tax profits were £701m for the 2022/23 financial year.

The figure is up 1.6% on the previous year’s haul of £690m – and ahead of company forecasts that it would make between £670m and £700m.

It comes amid fierce competition from rivals, with Sainsbury’s crediting the gains to its Aldi Price Match campaign and its move to provide better prices to Nectar card holders.

The firm said: “In January we doubled the number of products price matched to Aldi, with over 600 products now included across fresh, grocery and household ranges.

“We also made it easier for customers to identify lower prices in store by moving all of our entry price point products into a single brand, Stamford Street and by introducing Low Everyday Prices, which has replaced Price Lock and includes over 1,000 products, primarily branded.”

Total sales for the 12 months to the end of March were £36.3bn, up 3.4% year-on-year.

Sainsbury’s also said it expects “strong profit leverage in the year ahead”, with growth of up to 10% and underlying profit of up to £1.06bn.

It comes after the company announced cost-cutting plans in February, including 1,500 job cuts.

The preliminary results on Thursday said the chain launched nearly 1,200 new products during the year, while sales of its premium Taste the Difference range grew by 12%.

Much of the growth came from grocery sales, which were up more than 9%.

However, clothing was down 6.4%. The company said there had been “a bit” of disruption to supplies following attacks on shipping in the Red Sea region.

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Like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, rose 4.8% in the fourth quarter.

However, this was the firm’s slowest growth for more than a year and down on the 7.4% rise in the previous three months.

Statutory pre-tax profits were £277m in 2022/23, down more than 15%, largely due to a restructuring of the company’s banking division.

Chief executive Simon Roberts said: “We said we’d put food back at the heart of Sainsbury’s and that’s what we’ve done. Our food business is firing on all cylinders.

“We have the best combination of value and quality in the market and that’s winning us customers from all our key competitors, driving consistent volume market share growth as more customers choose us for their weekly shop and all their special occasions.”

Last year Sainsbury’s reported a 5.4% rise in sales but a 5% fall in pre-tax profits.

English football’s top flight is toasting a £40m sponsorship deal with Guinness after the Diageo-owned brand saw off competition from Heineken.

Sky News has learnt that the Premier League has informed its 20 clubs, which include Everton, Manchester City and Sheffield United, that it is backing a £10m-a-year agreement beginning next season.

The deal, which has not yet been formally signed, represents a big financial uplift on the Premier League’s existing partnership with Budweiser’s owner, AB InBev.

Guinness has historically been more closely associated with promoting itself through an association with rugby union – through the sport’s Premiership and Six Nations competitions – than football.

One Premier League club executive said they had been told the Guinness deal was valued at over £41m over its four-year duration.

Budweiser has been associated with the Premier League for the last five years, while it has also been a principal sponsor of the FA Cup.

The proposed agreement comes at a time of unprecedented scrutiny of the Premier League’s finances after its failure to reach a redistribution settlement with the English Football League.

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This week’s second reading of the Football Governance Bill represented another step towards the creation of an independent watchdog for the sport.

Richard Masters, the Premier League chief executive, has warned in the last fortnight that more intense regulation will risk damaging the English football pyramid.

The Premier League and Diageo declined to comment.