FILE PHOTO: An assembly line is seen after PSA Peugeot Citroen shut down last month due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Trnava, Slovakia April 17, 2020. REUTERS/Radovan StoklasaTrnava, Slovakia. REUTERS/Radovan Stoklasa/File Photo
PARIS (Reuters) – Peugeot maker PSA Group (PEUP.PA) held on to its margin target despite a fall in profitability in the first half of 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic dented sales at the French group.
PSA, which is in the middle of working through a merger agreement with Italy’s Fiat Chrysler (FCHA.MI), is aiming for a “solid rebound” in the second half, Chairman Carlos Tavares said in a statement.
A sales slump at the company deepened in the second quarter, with revenue down 34.5% in the first six months of 2020 to 25.12 billion euros ($29.47 billion), while the automotive division’s adjusted operating margins shrank to 3.7% from 8.5% at end-2019.
PSA reiterated a goal for average margins of over 4.5% in the automotive unit for the 2019 to 2021 period, however.
Reporting by Sarah White and Gilles Guillaume; Editing by Kim Coghill