Sales fell 16 percent, primarily due to the decline in sales in North America and Asia, and the quarterly balance sheet turned deep red.
The Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler has slipped deep into the red. In the first quarter there was a loss of 1.7 billion euros, after a profit of 619 million euros a year earlier, as the company announced on Tuesday in London. Impairment of business units was several hundred million euros due to the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic.
CEO Mike Manley referred to the liquidity of the group in view of the crisis. The available funds were at the end of March 18.6 billion euros. The company once again strengthened this with a new credit line of EUR 3.5 billion in April.
Sales declined by 16 percent to EUR 20.6 billion, primarily due to the decline in sales in North America and Asia. Adjusted for special items and before interest and taxes, Fiat Chrysler almost missed an operating loss with a result of 52 million euros. This was thanks to the most important market in North America, in which Fiat Chrysler had long achieved the lion’s share of its earnings.
DuPont in the red
The US specialty chemicals company DuPont also felt the effects of the corona pandemic in the first quarter. Revenue fell four percent year over year to $ 5.2 billion, DuPont said in Wilmington on Tuesday.
The bottom line was a loss of $ 616 million, after a profit of $ 521 million a year earlier. However, last year DuPont still benefited from parts of the company that are no longer in existence. Excluding this effect would have been a small plus a year ago. The company has long been suffering from weak demand from the auto industry and a falling nylon price.
DuPont is focusing more on responding to the corona crisis, said CFO Lori Koch. This includes optimizing working capital, postponing certain investments, improving the cost structure and strengthening liquidity.
Due to the impending weak demand in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the manufacturer of materials for car interiors and headlights had recently secured loans of USD 3 billion. DuPont also announced that it would invest half a billion dollars less than in the previous year.
(APA / dpa)
–
