The news of big dividend which will affect all FCA shareholders (but not those of PSA) who hold shares at the close of trading on Friday 15 January is pushing the Lingotto stock to Piazza Affari: by mid-morning the value of the share had grown by 5%. above 13,4 euros, leading the Ftse Mib, which is experiencing a positive session thanks to the Agnelli galaxy: the other stocks in evidence are Ferrari, Exor and CNH Industrial. Meanwhile, FCA's imminent bride in Stellantis (who was born on Saturday 16 January), Psa Peugeot, has released its 2020 results, which showed that the French auto group's worldwide sales fell by 27,8% to 2,5 million vehicles, penalized by the health crisis.
Volumes – specifies a press release from the French group – fell above all in Europe, where the decline was 29,7% to 2,1 million and where the group made 85% of its deliveries and in China (-57,7 .45.965% to XNUMX units). The group, which includes the brands Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Opel and Vauxhall, stresses however that the crisis has provided an opportunity to develop e-commerce and hopes to sell 100 vehicles in Europe by 2021 through this channel against 40 last year. In the Old Continent, PSA also underlines, sales marked "a clear recovery" in the second half of 2020, recording a 40% increase compared to the first six months of the year.
The same trend has been observed in China, where deliveries have improved month after month since September and in December 2020 they were equal to those of December 2019. In the Middle East-Africa area, PSA highlights that last year it marked an increase in deliveries of 20% to almost 200.000 units in a market down 14%. In Latin America, on the other hand, the group experienced a contraction in sales of 29,7% to 95.357. As for the performance of the various brands, Peugeot was the one that best resisted the crisis (-23% to 1,1 million vehicles sold), while Opel Vauxhall was the most penalized (-35% to 630).
Also the other large French group, Renault, which has been led by the Italian manager Luca De Meo since 1 July, has published the 2020 accounts, which also show a sharp drop in sales: -21% to 2,9 million vehicles. Also in this case, however, there is no lack of positive ideas, such as the great growth in the electric sector: the house has communicated the doubling of the number of electric vehicles sold in Europe in 2020 to 115.888 units. The main model, the Zoe, has exceeded 100 units sold, with a 114% year-on-year growth, which made it the best-selling electric model in Europe. One in 10 cars sold by Renault in the Old Continent in 2020 was electric compared to 3% in 2019, specified the commercial director of Renault, Denis Le Vot, during a conference call.
Renault also has confirmed the new strategy: less volumes to save on costs, but more profitable cars by focusing heavily on the strength of the brand. In a corporate strategy update, the French automotive group increased its cost savings goal of 500 million euros to 2,5 billion euros by 2023 and has set new goals to gradually increase margins: Luca de Meo reiterated that he will reduce the number of vehicles produced, consequently reducing spending on research and development and simplifying the production processes. Renault said it was aiming for a group operating margin of 5% by 2025.
Le Peugeot sharest on the Milan Stock Exchange are up by 5,26% while the Renaults are up by 0,23% in Paris.
