CITROEN EXPECTS HIGHER PROFITS, HELPED BY AX Automobiles Citroen expects rising sales of its new AX compact car to help boost profits significantly this year, continuing a financial recovery after six straight years of losses, president Jacques Calvet said. Speaking to reporters during weekend trials for the new AX sports model, he said: "All the budgetary forecasts that we have been able to make ... Show a relatively significant improvement in 1987, compared with 1986," he added. Citroen, part of the private Peugeot SA <PEUP.PA> group, increased its share of the French new car market to 13.7 pct in first two months 1987 from 12.1 pct a year earlier. It is aiming for an average 12.8 pct share throughout the year after 11.7 pct in 1986. The firm believes it is on target to raise its share of the European market, excluding France, to 3.2 pct this year from 2.9 pct in 1986. "Our first problem is to produce enough vehicles to meet the demand," Calvet said. "This is a relatively new problem for us." Citroen lost close to two billion francs in 1984 but cut the deficit to 400 mln in 1985, helped by moves to modernise its range and improve productivity. Calvet indicated last December he expected Citroen's 1986 profit to be between 250 and 500 million francs. This weekend he said that those profit estimates "remain about the same -- perhaps even a little more optimistic." Some of this optimism is due to the early success of the AX, launched on the French market last October. It will be available throughout most of western Europe within four months. The car has registered just over 20,000 sales. It is being built at Citroen's large plant at Aulnay-sous- Bois in northern Paris, as well as at Rennes in Brittany and Vigo in Spain, with production just reaching target level of 1,000 cars a day. The car, which Citroen markets as an intermediate model between its long-running 2CV and the Visa, is designed to compete with the Renault 5, Volkswagen Polo and Opel Corsa. The AX had built up its market share in France to around four pct last month. Calvet said: "Our hope is that once the AX is fully developed, we will have between 6.5 and seven per cent of the national market."