Renault shares jump up: Renault was back in the black in 2021

While sales increased by 6.3 percent to 46.2 billion euros despite lower car sales, the company also made a profit again with 888 million euros, as Renault announced on Friday in Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris. Renault had posted a record loss of 8 billion euros in the Corona crisis in 2020. The pandemic had amplified homegrown problems. In the current year, CEO Luca de Meo wants to record further savings, but sees problems with the chip supply.

De Meo started in 2020 to get the weakening return on the French back on track. In the past year, despite the continuing decline in sales, rising prices and the concentration on high-margin segments played into his hands. Adjusted operating profit was 1.66 billion euros after an operating loss of 337 million euros in the previous year. The corresponding margin reached 3.6 percent – CEO Luca de Meo had actually only promised profitability of more than 3 percent for 2023. This year it should be at least 4 percent. Last year’s results and the outlook for 2022 beat analyst estimates.

The Renault Group sold 2.7 million cars and light commercial vehicles worldwide in 2021, 4.5 percent less than in 2020, which was burdened by corona lockdowns. This was due, among other things, to the problems with the semiconductor supply – Renault recently had talked about the loss of half a million units. Throughout the industry, however, high demand coupled with scarce production means long delivery times and rising prices. De Meo had recently indicated that he expects a favorable price environment again this year. In 2022, Renault expects to produce around 300,000 fewer cars than under normal circumstances due to the shortage of chips, which will mainly affect the first half of the year.

At EURONEXT in Paris, Renault shares temporarily rose by 4.21 percent to 37.87 euros.

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BOULOGNE-BILLANCOURT (dpa-AFX)

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