Peugeot's huge loss of €5bn

PARIS - Embattled French car manufacturing company PSA Peugeot Citroen announced on Wednesday (13 February) that it had made a huge net loss of €5bn for 2012, the worst results in its history.

The company said it was implementing its recovery plans and had already cleaned-up its balance sheet.

Peugeot blamed its poor results on a previously announced €4.7bn asset write-down last year that was compounded by the poor performance of the European car market.

The loss compared with a profit of €588m in 2011. Revenue for the year fell 5.2% to €55.4bn.

"The results reflect the deterioration of the automotive industry in Europe," chief executive officer Philippe Varin said in a statement.

The results were worse than forecast by analysts and over-shadowed Peugeot's previous record loss of €1.2bn in 2009. The company has net debts of €3bn.

Earlier this week the European Commission authorised France to provide a €1,2bn guarantee to the company.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge