Peugeot maker PSA reaffirms margin goal after first half sales slide

PARIS (Reuters) – Peugeot maker PSA Group held on to its margin target despite a fall in profitability in the first half of 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic dented sales at the French group.

PSA, which is in the middle of working through a merger agreement with Italy’s Fiat Chrysler , is aiming for a “solid rebound” in the second half, Chairman Carlos Tavares said in a statement.

A sales slump at the company deepened in the second quarter, with revenue down 34.5% in the first six months of 2020 to 25.12 billion euros ($29.47 billion), while the automotive division’s adjusted operating margins shrank to 3.7% from 8.5% at end-2019.

PSA reiterated a goal for average margins of over 4.5% in the automotive unit for the 2019 to 2021 period, however.

(Reporting by Sarah White and Gilles Guillaume; Editing by Kim Coghill)