The French carmaker Renault is able to pay a dividend for the first time in four years thanks to an operational recovery. Shareholders should benefit from the return to growth with 25 cents per share. Last year was a turning point, the company found its pride again, said Renault boss Luca de Meo (55) on Thursday. The restructuring is beginning to pay off. “We left the ER and we’re back in the game.”
The separation from the Russian subsidiary Avtovaz brought Renault a net loss of 338 million euros in 2022, after a profit of 888 million euros the year before. Without the special effect, however, the result would have tripled to 1.6 billion euros, Renault explained. The carmaker had Avtovaz last year over Russia’s war on the Ukraine sold to the Russian state for one ruble, but with an option to buy it back within six years.
Renault wants to continue the recovery this year. The order books in Europe are well filled. CEO de Meo is planning a profit margin of at least 6 percent of sales. Last year, Renault was able to retain 5.6 percent of sales as operating profit. The group excluded the discontinued Russian businesses from the operating figures.
Profit margin to increase, full order books in Europe
Also from the recently redesigned alliance with Nissan Renault promises additional income. Corresponding projects are to be implemented as early as this year. Renault and Nissan had recently found an agreement that was above all one lower capital participation of the French in the Japanese. The imbalance in cross-shareholding has been a source of contention in recent years.
Renault was able to increase sales of electric and hybrid models last year. These now account for 39 percent of car sales in Europe, an increase of 9 percent compared to the previous year. Renault sees itself as number 3 in sales of electric cars in Europe and number 2 in hybrid cars.
The bottom line is that the number of vehicles sold by the Renault Group fell again last year, by 5.9 percent to a good two million. Around a quarter of this was attributable to the Dacia brand.