Tronchetti Provera Confident in Pirelli 2009 “Return to Profit”

Pirelli chairman and CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera has stated that the company should reach the end of 2009 with a profit, Reuters is reporting. Quoted by a spokesperson at a company presentation in Milan, Tronchetti Provera said, “We are fairly optimistic that in 2009 things will change. The market is moving, the measures taken in 2008 and being carried out in 2009 are producing results.”

Thanks to a major restructuring process mainly involving the company’s real estate division and the general global financial turmoil, Pirelli finished 2008 with a net loss of 412.5 million euros, though recent stock performance has seen a small upturn in the past week.