Peugeot SA’s share price up, posts a 1.9% increase in its revenue over the first quarter amid European car market recovery

The second-biggest car manufacturer by volume in Europe – Peugeot SA – made an e-mailed statement today, revealing that its revenue for the first quarter of the current financial year increased by 1.9% due to a better performance of the company in its home market as well as to increased deliveries. However, the strong euro had a negative impact on the companys revenue.

Peugeot SA announced in its statement that its sales rose from 13 billion euros in 2013 to 13.3 billion euros (18.4 billion dollars) in the first quarter of 2014. The sales of the company in Europe were reported to have increased by 16%, and the ones in China – by 18%. The vehicle sales worldwide rose by 7.7%.

In a conference call Mr. Jean-Baptiste Chatillon, who is the current Chief Executive Officer of Peugeot SA, shared his concern that he didnt expect any significant improvement in the exchange rate situation until the end of the year. Still, he did not hide his satisfaction with the fact that the company managed to post a revenue growth after announcing a 2.4% decrease last year.

His conference call was cited by Bloomberg: “Our priority is to make our group profitable again. Our first focus is our pricing power and the strict management of our prices.”

Recently, the automobile market in Europe has shown signs of recovery. Peugeots market share in its domestic market over the first financial quarter was reported to be stable at 12.3%. The company also shared its projections of a 3% market share increase in 2014. It has focused on becoming more profitable by preparing a special recovery plan.

A capital increase estimated to 3 billion euros is to be voted by the owners of the company today.

Peugeot SA added 0.75% to trade at 13.40 euros per share by 8:40 GMT, marking a one year change of +119.30%. According to the information published on the Financial Times, the 22 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Peugeot SA have a median target of 10.25, with a high estimate of 18.00 and a low estimate of 5.50. The median estimate represents a -22.93% decrease from the last price of 13.30.