Fiat Chrysler shares plunge in Milan
Fiat Chrysler's shares plummeted on the Milan stock exchange Wednesday, after the Italian auto giant published disappointing quarterly results.
At around 1125 GMT, the company's share price had plunged over 10.5 percent on the Borsa, after revealing a 35 percent loss of net profit from April to June this year.
By 1215 GMT the shares had pulled back slightly, down over 8.3 percent.
Earlier on Wednesday, the firm's holding company announced the death of Fiat's legendary boss Sergio Marchionne after 14 years at the helm.
The car manufacturer lowered some of its 2018 targets after quarterly results revealed net profits of 754 million euros ($882 million), well below analysts' expectations of nearly 1.3 billion euros, according to data company Factset.
The poor results took analysts by surprise.
On Tuesday Italian business daily Il Sole 24 Ore had predicted "record results: a quarter never seen in the history of the group in terms of financial strength, wealth and profitability".
However, there was some good news on a particularly difficult day for FCA: the cash flow was positive for the first time at 500 million euros at the end of June.
The figure is a huge feat for a company whose debt amounted to 7.7 billion euros at the end of 2014. Tackling the debt had been one of Marchionne's key objectives.
© 2018 AFP
