PSA/Peugeot-Citroen may be removed from the CAC 40 stock market index in France, according to traders and analysts. Over the last 12 months, the automaker’s share price has fallen by almost 65%. It presently trades at around 6.7 euros. Its stock in its competitor Renault has increased by 30%. The market capitalization of PSA has decreased to 2.4 billion euros ($3.1 billion), or around 20% of Renault's value of 11.2 billion. This means that the PSA is the 77th largest French listed company, falling behind the other top 40 firms in the France CAC 40. In a note last Monday, Exane BNP Paribas analyst Christophe Wakim wrote that Peugeot has the poorest weight in the index and is obviously at risk.
He said that it’s possible that Peugeot would be taken off the CAC 40 in September unless there is an exceptional 'politically driven' decision. Analysts said that Belgian chemicals and plastics group Solvay may take the place of PSA on the CAC 40. Agilis Gestion fund manager Arnaud Scarpaci said that if the stock falls below 6 euros, it would be very hard to defend the presence of Peugeot in the CAC.
He added that the company's expected restructuring plan that will be arriving in the middle of September may put the company back on its course. This is something that’s expected to be considered by the Euronext committee. Scarpaci mentioned the “political dimension“ related to this matter, saying that it’s quite a challenge to take out an symbolic French industrial name and get it replaced with the Belgian company. The NYSE-Euronext indexes committee that handles the CAC 40 meets quarterly. The meeting’s date wasn’t confirmed yet but it has been reported to be set for the first week of September.
