Luxury car marker Aston Martin narrowed heavy losses last year as sales picked up after the pandemic forced production to slow to a crawl, the company said.

Bosses revealed pre-tax losses reduced to £213.8 million from £466 million in 2020, with revenues jumping 79% to £1.1 billion.

The losses come as the business said earlier this year there had been a delay to deliveries of its new £2.4 million Valkyrie hypercar – with only 10 delivered last year.

Looking forward, bosses said they hope to ship between 75 and 90 Valkyries to wealthy customers in 2022.

Whilst the Valkyrie suffered from delays, Aston Martin said it achieved an estimated 20% of market share in the luxury SUV market with strong sales of its DBX.

The company shifted more than 3,000 in its first full year of production, helping to sell a total of 6,178 vehicles through its wholesale division.

This included 1,109 in the UK – an increase of 35% – and 1,984 in the Americas regions.

Executive chairman Lawrence Stroll said: “We have successfully transitioned our operating model to that of an ultra-luxury performance brand, with customer demand well ahead of supply.

“Our core business is strong and delivered to plan, with substantially improved profitability.”

The company aims to return to profitability next year, following a huge cash injection from Canadian billionaire Mr Stroll.

He added: “We inherited a challenging programme, and while it was disappointing that some deliveries were rescheduled from late 2021, following an in-depth review and now under a dedicated team we are confident of continuing to deliver these truly extraordinary vehicles to our customers with no compromises.”