My main goal? An agreement to import new technologies within the year”. The ad is from Sergio Marchionne, on the sidelines of yesterday's marathon at Schiphol, Amsterdam airport, where the meetings of Fiat Chrysler, CNH and Ferrari were held, which approved the distribution of 120 million profits to shareholders. For now, having filed the path of a large alliance with a traditional competitor ("we had an exchange with Volkswagen but there has never been talk of an alliance or consolidation"), the CEO aims to strengthen its presence in the Silicon Valley area, already strong in the axis with Google established through Waymo, the company of the Mountain View giant for self-driving cars that uses a fleet of Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans as a basis. But, she warns, "you shouldn't get married to just one person in Silicon Valley, because once she gets married, you're stuck." Therefore, even if the collaboration with Google is booming ("I'm very happy") it is the case of developing other partnerships. Apple? "We made them a similar proposition." Tesla? “We have never talked about any alliance or consolidation with them,” specified the number one of FCA. In short, the search continues. With caution, because "nine out of ten companies that want to reinvent the car will go bankrupt and no, we are not in a position to provide them with capital". The same goes for hydrogen. ”Fiat is not in a position to waste resources If the technology takes off, there will be numerous suppliers we can tap into.”
In short, the resources are concentrated on the already known objective: cancel the debt by the end of the year. Not easy, given the slowdown in the US market, so pronounced as to push Exane to write that "the FCA party is over". Marchionne is not so pessimistic. Fiat Chrysler's first quarter of 2017 “was, as expected, the weakest of the year. We had put it in the bill. All this will not affect the objectives for 2017 and 2018: we think we have the right products and we want a debt-free society.” The American decline, however, is "linked above all to the end of production of the Chrysler 200 and to the performance of the corporate fleet market". No effect, however, from the policies adopted by the White House. “Trump represents a certain America, America's hard core, and defends certain American interests as they are required to do, such as the idea of centralizing activities in America. Many industries have tried to extend activities in America and we and GM have decided to continue the production of pickups in Mexico”. But, with regard to the diesel emissions disputed by the US justice, Marchionne added: "In hindsight perhaps we would have done better not to sell the 104 diesel engines that have brought us problems in the US".
These are the main innovations of the meeting which approved the accounts at the end of 2016 closed with a net profit of 1,8 billion euros, an adjusted net profit of 2,5 billion (+47%), an adjusted EBIT of 6,1 billion (+26%) and declining debt (4,6 billion, 500 million less than in 2015). The board was confirmed with the entry of Michelangelo “Mike” Volpi, Milanese by birth, John Chambers' right arm in Cisco System in which he made hundreds of technological acquisitions. He, already present on the board of Exor, will be the right man to evaluate the possible agreements in Silicon Valley.
The assembly also approved the split which "constitutes the initial step of the distribution operation to the holders of its ordinary shares of the ordinary shares that FCA will hold in the L'Espresso Editorial Group". In addition, the board has been given a mandate to buy back up to 10% of the ordinary shares. This mandate is designed to provide "additional flexibility" in the management of the stock.
