2023-05-03 07:47:00
A Stellantis sign in front of the company’s headquarters in the United States
by Gilles Guillaume and Giulio Piovaccari
PARIS/MILAN (Archyde.com) – Stellantis reported a 14% rise in first-quarter net revenue on Wednesday on higher volume sales driven by improved semiconductor supplies, but also from an increase in its inventories.
The turnover of the car manufacturer born from the merger between PSA and FCA stood at 47.2 billion euros, higher than expected since according to a consensus carried out by Archyde.com, analysts expected 45.53 billion.
“Better fulfillment of semiconductor orders is slowly but surely improving our ability to produce vehicles,” Chief Financial Officer Richard Palmer said during a press conference call for his final earnings presentation as he steps down. Stellantis at the end of June, following twenty years in the group, to be replaced by Natalie Knight.
Stellantis stock opened 1% lower.
Philippe Houchois, analyst at Jefferies, underlines that the turnover is better than expected, but that the level of stocks remains to be “monitored”.
The group with 14 brands – including Peugeot, Fiat and Jeep – reported a 7% increase in its consolidated vehicle deliveries to 1.476 million units in the first quarter. But persistent problems in transport logistics helped to swell total inventories by around 200,000 units to 1.3 million vehicles.
“I think it’s more a question of making sales than a subject of stocks,” said Richard Palmer, for whom the production and delivery of the group’s large order book remains a challenge. “I think our stock level (…), given the level of sales where we are, is reasonably located.”
The group, which aims to double its net turnover by 2030, also announced a 22% growth in its worldwide sales of electric vehicles over the first three months of the year, supported in particular by the Peugeot 208 and Fiat 500.
In the United States, while waiting for the purely electric offensive to materialize with the Ram 1500 REV and Jeep Avenger, the manufacturer is claiming first place among plug-in hybrids for its Jeep Wrangler.
One of the three most profitable automakers in the industry, Stellantis has no plans to engage in a price war in the wake of California rival Tesla and is still targeting double-digit adjusted operating margin in 2023 and by 2030.
“It is difficult to make forecasts on price/volume trade-offs”, added Richard Palmer. “In the short term, prices should be relatively stable, but it will clearly depend on order intake.”
(Report Gilles Guillaume and Giulio Piovaccari, with Federico Maccini in Milan, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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