Peugeot to report multi-billion euro writedown - sources

By Sophie Sassard and Laurence Frost

LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - French car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen is set to announce a multi-billion euro writedown on its non-performing assets, two people familiar with the situation said.

Peugeot has net tangible assets worth 14 billion euros, according to Thomson Reuters data, and is expected to write down a significant part of it on Thursday, the people said.

Peugeot declined to comment. Traders said the company had called a surprise conference call for analysts on Thursday night.

Any such writedowns would come on top of operational headaches at Peugeot, which has been slammed by overcapacity and falling sales.

Analysts are forecasting a 1.52 billion euro full-year 2012 loss for Peugeot according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The firm is due to report results next Wednesday.

The auto unit of Peugeot, which last year was removed from France's benchmark Cac 40 index because of its declining market capitalisation, has been burning cash at a rate of roughly 200 million euros a month.

(Reporting by Sophie Sassard and Laurence Frost; Editing by Steve Slater and Elaine Hardcastle)