Stellantis aims to increase dividend payout next year By Reuters

MILAN (Reuters) -Stellantis, the world’s fourth-largest automaker, on Thursday maintained its 2024 financial forecasts and said it aimed to improve its dividend payout next year.

The company, which was created in 2021 through the merger of Fiat Chrysler and of Peugeot (OTC:) maker PSA, will hold an investor day later on Thursday in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

For 2025 the automaker will target the upper range of its 25% to 30% dividend payout policy versus the 25% paid in recent years, it said in a statement.

“The company will continue to use share buybacks and ordinary dividends to return excess cash to shareholders,” Stellantis (NYSE:) said.

Stellantis’ investor day comes one day after authorities in the European Union, one of the company’s largest markets, said they would impose extra duties of up to 38.1% on imported Chinese electric vehicles from July.

The group, whose brands also include Jeep, Ram, Citroen, Opel and Alfa Romeo, confirmed its forecasts for the current year, including an adjusted operating income margin of 10% to 11% in the first half and “industrial free cash flows visibly below the prior year period”.

It also said it would reward shareholders with at least 7.7 billion euros ($8.32 billion) through dividends and buybacks in 2024.

($1 = 0.9257 euros)