Jaguar Land Rover has announced record first-half revenues as sales of its flagship vehicles continued to grow.

The group, which is based in the West Midlands and has major operations in Merseyside, reported half-year revenues of £13.8bn, up 42% year-on-year, driven by strong sales.

Profit before tax and exceptional items was £442m for Q2, up over £600m on a loss at the same time last year. First-half profit before tax and exceptional items was £877m, up over £1.5bn year-on year.

Jaguar Land Rover said free cash flow was £300m for the quarter and £751m for the first half of the financial year - JLR’s best H1 cashflow on record.

Wholesale volumes were of 96,817 for the quarter and 190,070 for the first half, both up 29% year-on-year.

JLR said its order book remained strong with more than 168,000 client orders at quarter end. Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender made up 77% of the order book.

The group said it expected production and wholesale volumes to gradually increase in the second half of the year.

JLR also confirmed details of its ongoing £15bn investment into electric vehicles, including Investing more than £1.4bn over next five years in its Solihull and Halewood plants to produce next generation electric models

Adrian Mardell, JLR’s chief executive officer, said: “I am pleased to announce another strong quarter of financial and operational progress for JLR. We have delivered our best ever cashflow in the first half of this financial year and delivered another profitable quarter due to the strength of our financial performance.

"These results demonstrate the huge desirability of our modern luxury product portfolio and the skill of our hard-working teams who have increased production to ensure we can satisfy the substantial demand for our cars more quickly.”

Richard Molyneux, JLR’s chief financial officer, said: "I am very pleased with how our financial performance has developed in recent quarters and as a result we are in a position to increase our target EBIT margin from 6% plus previously indicated to around 8% for the full year.”