In its Q1 earnings call Vertical Aerospace revealed that its operating expenses for the the first three months of 2026 totalled GBP 35.97 million compared with GBP20.62m in Q1 2025. The vast bulk of the loss was attributed to research and development activities the cost of which grew by 127% as the flight testing of the VX-4 prototype reached its zenith and development of the Valo production aircraft and hybrid propulsion alternative gather pace.
As a result of capital raising and restructuring activities announced right at the end of the period and valued at GBP850m the company says that it has cash and investment reserves that it says will provide a cash runway that will take its Valo aircraft to certification.
Answering concerns over the impact that the delay in completion of the VX-4 flight envelope expansion, which included completing piloted transition flights, and which was completed three months later than expected CEO Stuart Simpson was positive saying that the company “is confident that the certification target would be met since much of the data gathered is directly transferrable to Valo”
Going on to say that because of the relatively high commonality between VX-4 aircraft 2 and the Valo with the same engines, propellers and pylons and data gathered the company expects a relatively short time between first flight and full envelope expansion including transitions “We think weeks rather than months” said Chief Test Pilot Simon Davies adding that because of UK CAA oversight of the testing programme much of the certification work is already in hand. Vertical are planning a robust flight test programme for Valo with seven pre-production aircraft two intended for ground structural testing while the remaining five will be devoted to flight test “there will be an evolution between those pre-production aircraft as there always is said Davies, “but it will be incremental”.
Fielding a question from another bank analyst on capital use versus the company’s rivals Chairman Domhnal Slatterly was upbeat “We spend in a year what our US competitors will spend in a quarter. In the last year we’ve achieved full piloted transition with an aircraft that is 70% larger and with regulatory oversight. We believe we are the best stewards of investor capital because we’ve never had a lot of capital and that’s made us very efficient with cash”
Image: RHI
