Assembly workers at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles produce protective masks, amid the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the assembly plant in Betim, near Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on May 20, 2020.
Washington Alves | Reuters
Fiat Chrysler lost $ 1.24 billion (1.05 billion euros) in the second quarter as the coronavirus caused continuous shutdowns at its plants around the world.
The company managed to beat Wall Street’s profit expectations, but lost revenue, which was down 56% on the prior year. This is how Fiat Chrysler performed against what Wall Street expected, according to average analyst estimates compiled by Refinitive.
- Adjusted EPS: a loss of 77 cents (65 euro cents) per share is expected versus a loss of $ 1.36 (1.15 euros) per share.
- Revenue: $ 13.88 billion (11.71 billion euros) versus $ 17.54 billion (14.78 billion euros) expected.
On a pre-tax adjusted basis, Fiat Chrysler reported a loss of approximately $ 1.1 billion (928 million euros) in the second quarter. The automaker managed to report a profit of $ 46.2 million (39 million euros) for its operations in North America. All the others were in red.
Shares of the Italian-American automaker were unchanged on Friday during premarket trading. The stock closed Thursday at $ 10.50, down 3.9%.
Fiat Chrysler consumed $ 5.8 billion (4.9 billion euros) during the second quarter, a figure that Wall Street is closely following.
The company’s global vehicle sales from April to June fell 63% to 424,000 units due to pandemic-related production downtime and interruptions in demand.
“While the company remains vigilant about employee health and safety, our plants are operational, distributors sell in showrooms and online, and we have the flexibility and financial strength to follow through on our plans.” Mike Manley, CEO of Fiat Chrysler. he said in a statement.
The company has also taken several steps to shore up its bottom line in recent months. He said he had liquidity of $ 20.75 billion (17.5 billion euros) in his automotive division at the end of the quarter. The Italian government also guaranteed $ 7.5 billion (6.3 billion euros) in loans to the automaker in late June, and $ 5.3 billion (4.5 billion euros) of that has yet to be exploited, the company said. .
Fiat Chrysler reconfirmed expectations of completing a 50-50 merger with French automaker PSA Group in the first quarter of next year, subject to board approvals and regulations. The name of the merged company will be Stellantis.
Fiat Chrysler’s earnings follow its city rivals General Motors and Ford Motor, which beat Wall Street’s profit expectations in the second quarter.
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