TURIN -
Fiat stretched the reach of Chrysler Group’s sales and service into four key European markets during the third quarter, and the Italian company’s automobile businesses — comprising Fiat Group Automobiles, Maserati and Ferrari — posted a 2 million euro year-over-year gain in trading profits, Fiat Group announced Thursday.
Looking at the new markets for the Chrysler Group brands, officials said: "Expansion of sales and service activities in Europe for Chrysler, Dodge and the Jeep branded products proceeded with the inclusion of the U.K., Spain, Switzerland and Poland during the quarter."
Also, a report citing Sergio Marchionne, Fiat’s chief executive officer, revealed that the company is looking to increase its Chrysler share to 35 percent before 2011 draws to a close. Basically, the Fiat chief admitted there are still some challenges to clear before hitting that mark, however.
Currently, Fiat owns 20 percent of Chrysler, and that should be boosted to 25 percent  in January when the Fiat 500 is rolled out in the U.S.
Discussing the third-quarter performance of Fiat’s automobile businesses in more detail, the division reached trading profits of euro 210 million, compared with euro 208 million in the same period of 2009. Net revenues hit euro 7.09 billion, up 1.3 percent year-over-year.
Fiat Group Automobiles, in particular, had revenues of euro 6.55 billion (up modestly at 0.1 percent) and earned trading profits of euro 130 million, down from euro 155 million in the third quarter of 2009.
Maserati had quarterly net revenues of euro 134 million (up 44.1 percent). Its trading profits were euro 4 million, compared with euro 1 million in the-prior year period.
Ferrari’s net revenues were euro 446 million, a gain of 12.6 percent. Its trading profits were euro 76 million, as compared with 52 million in the year-ago period.
Overall, Fiat Group’s net revenue climbed 11.9 percent year-over-year to euro 13.48 billion. Its trading profits were euro 586 million, a gain of euro 278 million from the third quarter of 2009.
Operating profits were at euro 586 million, up from euro 267 million.
Profits before taxes climbed from euro 128 million to euro 435 million. Meanwhile, net profits reached euro 190 million, compared with euro 25 million in the same time frame of 2009.
Outlook
Continuing on, Fiat executives also talked about their projections for the rest of the year. The first three quarters has seen performance expectations steadily increasing. As such, officials said the company is “in a position to substantially upgrade guidance.”
Specifically, the company is likely to see growth in all areas besides auto business.
“All sectors are expected to significantly improve performance over the prior year, with the exception of the automobiles business, the performance of which, although improving over 2009, will continue to be impacted by the reduction and/or elimination of eco-incentive programs which underpinned demand for A and B segment cars in Western Europe in 2009,” officials noted.
Moving along, Fiat predicts there will a slight uptick in capital expenditure programs from an “abnormally low” 2009.
Next year, it is likely that capital commitments will return to more typical levels, officials said.
With regards to the aforementioned upwardly revised guidance for full-year 2010 for Fiat Group, the company expects the following:
—More than euro 55 billion in revenue.
—At least euro 2 billion in trading profits.
—About euro 400 million in net profit
—Almost euro 4 billion in net industrial debt.
“While working on the achievement of its objectives, Fiat Group will continue to implement its strategy of targeted alliances in order to optimize capital commitments and reduce risks,” executives noted.