Ferrari shares dropped 11 percent on Wednesday after new CEO Louis Camilleri told analysts in a conference call that profit targets previously announced by his predecessor Sergio Marchionne were "aspirational."
Nevertheless, Camilleri will still attempt to reach the targets, which call for an increase in total sales to more than 10,000 units and a doubling of profits to $2.3 billion by 2022. He will give details on the latest plan to reach the targets over a two-day meeting starting September 17, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
"Both Sergio and I had the same ambitions," Camilleri said in the call, after repeating several times that the targets were "aspirational." He also said the goals carried "risks and opportunities."
Camilleri is the former chairman and CEO of Philip Morris International, the cigarette giant whose Marlboro brand sponsors the Ferrari Formula 1 team. Camilleri was also a member of Ferrari's board before being promoted to the CEO role on July 21 following Marchionne's resignation the day prior due to health issues. Unfortunately those issues ultimately resulted in Marchionne's death on July 25.
Marchionne was also chairman of Ferrari. Currently filling the chairman role at the Prancing Horse is John Elkann, the grandson of Fiat patriarch Gianni Agnelli and chairman of EXOR, the investment company that controls Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
Despite the “risks” he warned of in the recent conference call, Camilleri is likely to stick with Marchionne's plan of introducing a Ferrari SUV and electrifying most of the lineup. Camilleri does have some experience in transforming companies. For example, he helped Philip Morris transform its image as maker of just cigarettes to one including e-cigarettes.
