MILAN (Reuters) -Stellantis said the margin on its adjusted operating profit climbed to 11.8% in its debut year, above its target of around 10%, thanks to strong execution on synergies, which generated around 3.2 billion euros ($3.6 billion) in net cash benefits.
“Record results prove that Stellantis is well positioned to deliver strong performance, even in the most uncertain market environments,” Chief Executive Carlos Tavares said in a statement on Wednesday.
Tavares will next week present the group’s business plan, just over a year after Stellantis was created through the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot maker PSA.
Stellantis guided for a double-digit margin again this year. The pro-forma figure for 2020 was 6.9%.
Chief Financial Officer Richard Palmer said raw material inflation would remain a problem for the whole industry this year, while the semiconductors issue, which cost the group around 20% of its planned production in 2021, had peaked in the third quarter of last year.
He added Stellantis did not have any significant exposure to Russia, which is being hit be international economic sanctions over Ukraine.
“We are confident we can manage the Russia crisis,” Palmer said.
The group, which generated an industrial free cash flow of over 6 billion euros last year, proposed to pay out 3.3 billion euros in ordinary dividends, equal to 1.05 euros per share. ($1 = 0.8829 euros)
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari; additional reporting by Gilles Guillaume in Paris, editing by Agnieszka Flak and Keith Weir)
