Peugeot Resumes Dividend as Profit Jumps -- Update
February 23 2017 - 1:43AM
Dow Jones News
By Nick Kostov
PARIS--Peugeot (UG.FR), the French car maker in advanced talks
to buy the European operations of General Motors Co. (GM), is to
pay its first dividend for six years after posting a sharp rise in
net profit for 2016.
With its full-year results on Thursday, the French car maker
announced it will make a payout of 0.48 euros ($0.51) a share,
having achieved a net profit of EUR2.15 billion, up 79% from the
previous year.
Resuming dividend payments at this level for the first time
since the payment for 2010 will mean shareholders share in a
payment of EUR430 million.
Operating income rose to EUR2.61 billion from EUR1.97 billion a
year earlier, while revenue fell 1.2% to EUR54.03 billion, Peugeot
said.
Having taken over in 2014, Peugeot's Chief Executive Carlos
Tavares uickly slashed costs by reducing the number of cars it
makes and cutting the workforce, while preaching the dangers of
expanding too fast or chasing sales with discounts. He has recently
changed his tune, mounting an audacious bid to buy General Motors'
troubled Opel unit and Malaysian auto maker Proton Holdings
Bhd.
Mr. Tavares said the 2016 performance showed the success of the
company's structural transformation and had been achieved in "an
adverse environment."
Chief financial officer Jean-Baptiste de Chatillon told
reporters there was no guarantee that an agreement could be found
with General Motors for the acquisition of its European operations
but that Peugeot's financial health now allowed it to consider this
type of operation.
The auto maker, officially known as Groupe PSA SA, is targeting
revenue growth of more than 10% by 2018 compared with 2015.
The company said it expects auto markets to be stable in Europe,
Latin America and Russia, and sees growth of 5% in China in
2017.
-Write to Nick Kostov at nick.kostov@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 23, 2017 01:28 ET (06:28 GMT)
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