Stellantis N.V. (NYSE:STLA) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

The second question you asked was about my medium-term agenda. Thank you. I’m thinking I’ve been 100 days or so enrolled. So I still very much have that thinking cap on. And I think there are some different places where I have a huge passion in terms of how do we bring them into business. Maybe first is like any CFO, I think we’re drilled in our brains, how do you think about cost and efficiency and making sure that the business isn’t where it needs to be. And we are in an environment where things are tough and they’re challenging, and that’s something that requires a lot of attention. So, I think you know, Carlos already has an outstanding reputation there as part of this business DNA, but you can expect that’s also a place where I will spend time and energy.

The second one is that I really look at our business and making sure that people externally understand the story, the red thread, what makes us special and unique. And also how does that translate into better comparability with our US peers, better valuation for the business. I think this is really an opportunity where there’s some low-hanging fruit in terms of how we communicate, what we communicate that we help people make it easier to understand what is so great about this business and why we’re very optimistic about the future. And the third one, which is something I care very passionately about is around everything ESG. I believe we’re in an industry where we’re 25% on the global footprint when it comes to carbon and where we have a unique opportunity to be part of the solution.

This is something that I think only happens and only really scales up when not only does the whole business care about it, but also when the finance function is providing the transparency and really looking at the topics that will help drive the business forward. So, that’s definitely in place. You’ll also see my focus as we go forward.

Daniel Roeska: Excellent. And can I direct your kind of your view towards your balance sheet? I mean, if we look at what Stellantis has done over the past, let’s say, take a long time period, like five or six years, right, the balance sheet has improved quite substantially. Are you kind of satisfied with where the balance sheet sits or what are the areas you’d like to look at in the upcoming years?

Natalie Knight: Yeah. Thank you so much for asking, because I’ve got so excited about giving you those answers that I skipped the last one, which I know for many is probably very important. And that is obviously looking at how do we optimize where our business is and having an efficient balance sheet? So this is something where I think our business is known as being an outstanding operator and I think that’s something where we prove day in and day out that that’s something that really matters to us. I think we are still a pretty young company. And so, in terms of being able to go out and show shareholders, how do we move from maybe a safety-first balance sheet to an efficiency-driven balance sheet is something I think we can do better.

And when we think about how are we doing there that’s a complex topic, because one is getting, I think, stronger vision inside and outside the company on how and where we invest in the future, because this is an industry that’s going to require making sure we make those good investments. But at the same time, I think we have the ability to be braver and even more thoughtful in terms of how do we look at making sure those the strength of our very strong cash-generating machine is being put to best use, whether it’s within the company or also with more directly with shareholder remuneration.

Daniel Roeska: Great. Thanks, Natalie.

Operator: Thank you. We’ll now take our next question from José Asumendi at J.P. Morgan. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

José Asumendi: Thank you. Hi, Natalie. Two questions, please. The first one on the launch of the C3 electric price below EUR 25,000. Can you explain a little bit what are the key pillars that allows you to make money with the car and close that margin gap between ICE and BEV? I mean, this is clearly, I think one of the most important statements the company has given now in the past year. And second, with regards to best penetration in Europe and all your upcoming product launches, can you share a little bit your thoughts with regards to the best penetration ratio in Europe? And where do you see that maybe on a three, six, nine month view? Thank you so much.