PSA Good accounts make good accounts of the State – Le Parisien

Boris Cassel and Matt Pelloli | March 7, 2015, 6:53 | Updated: March 7, 2015, 6:56

Back to the Future for PSA. The automaker will rejoin from Monday, March 23 the CAC 40, the equivalent for Exchange, Championship Formula 1 world.

A very select club that the company, mired in crisis in the automotive industry and indebted, left in September 2012. Announced by Euronext yesterday, the manager of the Paris, the return from the list of the largest market capitalization is good news for shareholders, including … the state.

In fact, the government has a hand in the pocket in recent months to allow the Peugeot family to save a group employing 80,000 employees in France. Specifically, the state entered the PSA capital in April. Total investment: € 800 million. According to our information, thanks to the rise in share price, the involvement of the state is now worth € 1.7 billion …. Or, in less than a year, a doubling of the initial investment! This will reassure the Cassandras who last year were concerned about a potentially ruinous investment for public funds. Could it be time for the state shareholder to sell his shares and pocket the jackpot?

“The state does not think that way. The authorities have not only invested in PSA to a gain, “says a source close to the matter. Indeed, the government chose to buy 14% of Peugeot’s capital last year to par with Dongfeng, the other new shareholder. And thus not to let only the Peugeot family facing the appetite of the Chinese automaker.

“Sell the shares today to record a profit does not match the original strategy of the State “analyzes the same source. Even take the risk of the action of PSA possibly tomorrow or after tomorrow, down …

“The value will not necessarily continue his ascension, analysis François Chaulet, CEO of Montsegur finance. Some companies can make magnificent courses outside the CAC 40 and stagnate once they incorporate the benchmark index. “This is the case for Gemalto, the digital security company (smart cards), Peugeot hunting the list of the forty largest French market capitalization. “Reintegration in the CAC 40 is reassuring to investors,” says Peugeot-on, before recognizing that the road is still long: “We are still a laggard in terms of profitability. “

Indeed, even if the losses were divided by more than three in one year, PSA remains in the red with a net loss of € 706 million in 2014

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