stellantis is ranked third in the world in the automotive sector for revenues and margins and in first place for absolute operating result. This was announced by chairman John Elkann during the shareholders' meeting held in Amsterdam which was attended by 70,79% of the capital. In 2022 Stellantis has “registered solid financial resultsi that set us apart from our competitors with a combination of scale and double-digit growth. We are among the top three in our sector in terms of revenues and margins and achieved first place in terms of absolute operating profit, which amounted to 23,2 billion euros,” said Elkann, saying he was “proud of the way Carlos Tavares, the leadership team and their colleagues have achieved great results this year, managing the turbulence with creativity and resilience”.
“We are still young, but we are already starting to keep our promise – added the manager – In a crucial moment for the sector, we have gained significant momentum on electrification, software development and vertical integration. We have continued to innovate as we redefine and enhance mobility for people everywhere. And we did it in times of great discontinuity, in the face of various crises that have caused exceptional uncertainty".
Stellantis pushes for electrification and decarbonization
A key element of Stellantis' work on decarbonization “is our leadership in battery electric vehicles, where we have recorded a 41% increase in global sales year on year in Europe”, explained Elkann, adding that: “We are focused on implementing our decarbonisation strategy through sustainable products and services”. Elkann then underlined that “our work to promote the circular economy continued with the inauguration of our first Hub for the Circular Economy in our historic Italian factory in Mirafiori”.
The company is also “accelerating the electrification race with 23 EV models already on the market and new iconic products on the way like the Ram 1500 Rev,” which CEO Carlos Tavares unveiled last week at the New York Auto Show. “By the end of next year, we will have 47 drinks (Battery Electric Vehicle ed.) for our customers and by the end of the decade we will have 75 BEVs available worldwide,” Elkann said.
Stellantis and the “third engine”
However, the road is still long and intersects with what Elkann has called the third engine. “Besides Europe and North America where we have our roots we are committed to we are also building what we call our 'third engine'. This “third engine” consists of South America, Africa, the Middle East, India and Asia Pacific. Here are just a few steps we've taken to drive progress in these regions: We announced the doubling of our industrial capacity in Morocco; we are committed to growing and strengthening our own industrial activity in India; we maintained our market leadership in Brazil, Argentina and Chile; and, earlier this year, we announced an expansion of our business in Turkey with Tofas”.
Stellantis: record salaries of 2 billion to employees
Environment, social policies and Governance. The company pointed out how the percentage of women in leadership positions is moving ever closer to its 30% target by 2025. Women of Stellantis, the company's first global corporate resource group, increased its membership by 67% and national representation by 42%.
“This year, our approx 272.000 employees around the world they have solved problems and delivered results, demonstrating once again their ability to overcome the challenges of uncertainty,” said Elkann. For this reason, he explained, “they benefited from a record fee of 2 billion euros linked to the results of the full year 2022, 200 million euros more than last year”. Now the company has "more than 60.000 employees who are direct shareholders of Stellantis", said the president, underlining that "our people are the real reason behind our excellent performance and the positive moment we are experiencing, and I sincerely thank them".
Tavares: “Stellantis is not a shrinking company, but a global builder"
Looking at the recent past, 2022 was "a year that it is reductive to define challenging and difficult" with critical issues related to shortage of semiconductors and supplies in the first part of the year and “significant headwinds” linked to theinflation in the second part of the year, said the managing director Carlos Tavares speaking at the meeting. However, “despite the challenges and headwinds it has been a rewarding year for us and we have achieved one record performances, not only in terms of profit margin, but also a very positive cash flow”.
“Stellantis people and employees understand perfectly why the merger made sense, also to ensure the sustainability of the group”. This is seen well “in the very rewarding level of net synergies, equal to 7,1 billion euros, much higher than the commitment made when the merger was decided", added Tavares, underlining that the company is "far ahead of the commitment made because there is a strong bottom-up contribution from our people ”.
Stellantis, “now more than ever, is a very resilient company. And the proof of this is the fact that we continue to develop new growth-oriented businesses – continued Tavares.
"Our group is not pursuing a strategy of reducing activities, a shrinking strategy", he specified, recalling that the company is "a global automaker that has a profitable growth strategy, not a shrinking strategy” and is “a single company moving at the same speed, in the same direction”. Tavares said the company also uses its scale to accelerate the path to carbon neutrality: “We aim to more rapidly develop new technologies that will lead us to carbon neutrality in 2028,” Tavares said.
Stellantis: ok with maxi dividend and remuneration policy
The Stellantis annual general meeting of shareholders approved the proposed dividend, the remuneration policy and the proposal to appoint Benoit Ribadeau-Dumas as non-executive director. In particular, on April 24, Stellatis will deliver 4,2 billion euros of dividend, equal to 1,34 euro per share.
Il salary package for the automaker's top executives, including Chief Executive Officer Carlos Tavares, who hadn't been approved last year, he received the green light from about 80 of the shareholders. According to the data provided, the total salary of Tavares, including long-term incentives, which will not necessarily turn into a full payment, amounted to approximately €2022 million in 23,5, higher than €19,2 million in 2021. The amount is 91% made up from variable components of remuneration, including 11,6 million euros in long-term incentives, the group announced. Stellantis said the actual compensation received by the CEO last year was down 13% compared to 2021, standing at 14,9 million euros.
The vote came after investors did not approve Stellantis' executive pay for 2021. At the time, Tavares' pay drew strong criticism from unions and politicians, especially in France, at a time when the country he was in full campaign for the presidential election, dominated by a cost-of-living crisis.
“Il largely positive vote of all our shareholders, including our reference shareholders, founding families, our employee representatives, our institutional and retail investors, reflects our adherence to the principle of a meritocratic culture as I highlighted last year at our meeting – said Elkann – our remuneration report reflects our belief in rewarding performance based on the achievement of ambitious objectives, both financial and related to ESG”.
Other items on the agenda that have been approved include theBenoit Ribadeau Dumas board member in place of Andrea Agnelli who had resigned following the opening of the Juve investigation and the choice of Ernst & Young Accountants as independent auditor for the 2023 financial year and of Deloitte Accountants for 2024. Furthermore, the BoD was designated as corporate body authorized to issue ordinary shares and assign subscription rights and authorized to limit or exclude option rights for ordinary shares.
At Piazza Affari the title Stellantis gains 0,2% to 16,832 euros against a 0,35% drop in the Ftse Mib.
