French automaker PSA reports sharp increase of net income in 2016

The PSA Group, France's largest automaker, said Thursday that its net income rose by 79 percent to 2.14 billion euros (2.25 billion U.S. dollars) last year, thanks to the recovery in global demand and improvement in operating efficiency.

The French company's revenues increased by 2.1 percent to 54.03 billion euros (57.001 billion dollars) in 2016, after selling 5.8 percent more units around the world to 3.15 million vehicles, PSA, which owns the Peugeot and Citroen brands, said in a statement.

For its automotive division, PSA reported a profit of 37.066 billion euros (39.104 billion dollars), up by 2.7 percent year on year due to the success of new models and the group's pricing power strategy.

"The group is building the conditions for profitable and sustainable growth, reinforced by the success of the first launches in its product offensive," PSA Chairman and CEO Carlos Tavares said.

"These results demonstrate our ability to consistently deliver an excellent performance in an adverse environment. They are the outcome of the group's operating efficiency improvement and our competitive teams' focus on the execution of the Push to Pass plan," he added.

Looking to its performance in 2017, the French company expected a stable automotive market in Europe, Latin America and Russia, as well as a 5-percent growth in the Chinese market. Endi