The French PSA Group in the first half of 2018 increased its net profit by 18%, to 1.48 billion euros, the company reported . The group operating profit margin was 7.8% (total group operating profit from continuing operations €3.02 billion), including the Opel/Vauxhall division. acquired by PSA from General Motors in 2017, showed a profitability of 5%. Opel became profitable for the first time since 1999.

PSA's revenue in January-June soared by 40.1% to 38.6 billion euros. In comparable prices (2015), the figure increased by 22.9%. Analysts polled by Inquiry Financial for Reuters on average expected group operating profit of 2.33 billion euros, net profit of 1.364 billion euros and revenue of 38.49 billion euros.

The group's sales in the first half of the year increased by 38% to 2.18 million vehicles.

Opel/Vauxhall made a profit of €502 million in the first half of the year, compared with a loss of €179 million in the last five months of 2017 (PSA reports Opel/Vauxhall results from August 2017). In 2016, the loss was $257 million. As JPMorgan analyst Jose Asumendi wrote, “Opel’s recovery is simply the fastest in the auto industry in many years” (quoted by Interfax ).

Profits for the Peugeot, Citroen and DS brands increased by 30% to €1.9 billion.

The company's share prices jumped 10% during trading in Paris on Tuesday. PSA's capitalization has grown by a third since the beginning of 2018, to almost 19 billion euros.

Opel, part of the PSA Group, made a profit for the first time in 18 years