PSA Targets Operating Profit in H1

France’s largest carmaker, PSA Peugeot Citroen recently said that its 2009 financial results were heavily influenced buy the global financial crisis: the carmaker’s global sales saw a 2.2 % decrease to 3,188,000 units last year in the context of a market which fell by 3.1 %. PSA’s revenues dropped by 10.9 % to 48,417 million euro and the company registered a recurring operating loss of 689 million Euro.

However, the second half of 2009 saw PSA increasing its market share and registering an recurring operating income of 137 million euro, driven by its fresh vehicle range and government incentives received in some of its markets, as just-auto.com reports.

PSA’s core automotive business cushioned operating losses’ fall in the second half of 2009. The group’s automotive part producing arm, Faurecia registered recurring operating income in the same period while Banque PSA Finance also joined the ascending trend. Thus, PSA’s 2009 cash flow reached 809 million euro and its net debt was cut down to 1.993 billion euro.

“Our financial results for 2009 show a much improved performance in the second half, but still reflect the severity of the crisis affecting the automotive industry. However, strict cash management and successful stock reduction enabled us to lower our debt substantially, reinforcing our sound financial position and giving us ample liquid resources,” PSA CEO Philippe Varin said.

For the first half of 2010, PSA aims to increase its market share and expects a positive operating income.

“In 2010, we expect the market conditions to be challenging, with a European market down 9%, but we will benefit from our automotive performance plan to drive sales, reduce costs and improve capacity utilization. We are sustaining the momentum of our new model launches, and we should continue to grow our market shares. On this basis, we are expecting the group’s recurring operating income to be positive in the first half of 2010,” Varin added.