“Record results”, welcomes Luca de Meo, the general director of Renault. It must be said that the Italian boss, at the head of the French brand since 2020, has reason to be happy: his group has confirmed its return to the track after difficult years, by publishing “historic” financial results this Wednesday, February 14 “.
Many figures show Renault’s very good form last year. Thus, the net profit for the year 2023 of the diamond brand peaks at nearly 2.2 billion euros. The operating margin (i.e. the ratio between operating profit and turnover) reached 7.9% and 4.1 billion euros, a record for the group, including the deconsolidation of its subsidiary. thermal Horse, Renault said in a press release.
Finally, the Renault group’s turnover reached 52.4 billion euros, an increase of 13.1% over one year. It is driven by sales volumes up 9%, particularly at its economy brand Dacia and in the compact car segment, but also by a strong impact from price increases and the number of cars sold in higher ranges.
“It is a day of great pride, with historic results for our group,” declared the group’s financial director, Thierry Piéton, during a press conference. “They demonstrate the success of the new vehicles in our range” and “our commercial strength”. “Our fundamentals have never been so solid and there is no question of stopping there,” said Luca de Meo, Renault’s general manager.
“A new chapter in the history of Renault”
These good results follow three years of intense reorganization on Renault’s side, with the strategic choice to focus on the electric market with its subsidiary Ampere, and the remodeling of the historic partnership with Nissan. After cleaning up the company’s accounts in difficulty, and taking on a costly departure from Russia, “we are now opening a new chapter in the history of Renault”, based on “performance and cash generation”, but also flexibility in the face of the energy transition, with its thermal (Horse) and electric (Ampere) subsidiaries, explained Thierry Piéton.
The 2023 result includes 797 million euros linked to Nissan’s contribution. The sale of part of the Nissan shares held by Renault, equivalent to 5% of the capital of its Japanese partner, also brought in 764 million euros.
Equally optimistic forecasts for 2024
The group will propose a dividend of 1.80 euros per share, higher than analysts’ consensus. “It gives an indication of the level of confidence we have to increase the group’s performance,” underlined Thierry Piéton.
For 2024, Renault intends to continue on this beautiful wave. The French automobile group plans to achieve an operating margin greater than or equal to 7.5%, and free financial flows greater than 2.5 billion euros.
The group is also planning 10 launches over the year, including the electric Renault 5 and Scenic. “We remain cautious from a volume point of view, we focus on the quality of sales, and we replace vehicles at a certain level of profitability with new launches that are much more profitable,” such as the Renault Rafale and Dacia Duster SUVs, said specified the financial director.