A group of shareholders of Stellantis Automotive Group filed a lawsuit against the automaker in the United States, accusing it of inflating the market value of the group’s securities and alleging fraud by concealing growing inventory and other business weaknesses. Stellantis, headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, owns 14 car brands including Dodge, Jeep, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Fiat and Maserati.
The legal proceedings, launched in federal court in New York, accuse the company of artificially inflating its stock price since January by making “overwhelmingly positive” assessments of the inventory of vehicles and parts it owns and the power it has in setting market prices, new product introductions and operating profits.
The legal action by shareholders comes after Stellantis released results showing a complicated semester after announcing a 48% drop in net profit to 5.647 billion euros ($6.07 billion), which the company blamed on lower sales and “headwinds from exchange rates and restructuring costs.”
The automaker’s profit fell 13.57 percent on revenue of 85.017 billion euros ($92.15 billion) in the January-June period due to depreciation in its North American and European operations.
As a result, Stellantis’ operating margin at the end of the first half of the year was 7.8%, compared with 14.19% in the same period last year. Likewise, the adjusted operating margin was 9.95%, compared with 14.3% a year ago.
Specifically, the plaintiffs are seeking damages of an unspecified amount for people who owned Stellantis stock between February 15 and July 24, 2024.
Stellantis shares rose 3.67% on Friday to 14.61 euros per share, while the manufacturer’s capital has plummeted by more than 12% last year.
