Stellantis stands out on the Stock Exchange, after the good half-year results, higher than expected, and above all the strong improvement in the 2021 guidance, which pushes the share of the Italian-French car manufacturer to gain up to 5% at the opening session in Piazza Affari. In the first half of its life, Stellanti in fact recorded pro forma net revenues of 75,3 billion euros, up 46% compared to the 51,668 billion pro forma of the first half of 2020, calculated on the basis of those of FCA and PSA Peugeot , at the time not yet “married”. Analysts' expectations were around 72 billion. Also according to the pro forma data, the net profit for the period was 5,9 billion euro. Pro forma adjusted operating income amounted to 8,6 billion euros, with a margin of 11,4% (16,1% in North America). Pro forma industrial cash flow was a negative €1,2 billion, reflecting negative working capital impacts from unfulfilled semiconductor orders, offsetting net positive synergies.
And precisely on the synergies front, the group underlines the strong start of the plan with approx 1,3 billion euros of cash benefits in the first half of this year, despite the still slow recovery of the automotive market. Available industrial liquidity amounts to 51,4 billion euros. Finally, as mentioned, Stellantis raised its targets for this year by a significant amount, now expecting an adjusted operating profit margin of approximately 10%, versus a previous estimate of between 5,5% and 7,5%, assuming that there will be no further deterioration in the supply of microchips and significant restrictive measures against Covid-19 in Europe and the United States. In this regard, the CFO Richard Palmer is confident: "The third quarter of this year should be similar to the second, with a production loss of 500 vehicles, but the situation should then improve". In particular, the automotive group expects the market in North America to grow by 10% compared to 2020, against the previous estimate of +8%. On the other hand, expectations remain unchanged for all the other markets in which the group born from the merger between FCA and PSA will be present: South America +20%, Greater Europe +10%, Middle East and Africa +15%, India and Asia Pacific +10 %, China +5%.
"I would like to warmly thank all Stellantis employees - commented the CEO of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares - for their extraordinary attention to operational excellence and the implementation of synergies, actions that have led the company to achieve important financial results in the first semester. These important operational results are accompanied by significant progress on strategic issues, related to theacceleration in the field of electrification and software, fundamental pillars of our strategy”.
