Renault is at a loss due to leaving Russia

Sales rose by 11.4 percent to 46.4 billion euros (1.1 trillion CZK), mainly thanks to higher selling prices. Operating margin, or the share of operating profit on sales, doubled to 5.6 percent thanks to a strategy focused on new car launches, electric cars and fewer discounts. This year, Renault wants to achieve an operating margin of at least six percent.

Excluding the sale of its former Russian division AvtoVAZ, net profit rose to 1.6 billion euros last year from 549 million euros the year before. The company returned to profit in 2021 after two years of losses. Renault sold a majority stake in the Russian automaker to the state last year, apparently for one ruble, but with a six-year option to buy it back, Reuters reported.

Renault proposed to pay a dividend of 0.25 euros per share for last year, but it still has to be approved by the shareholders at the general meeting on May 11. The last time the company paid a dividend was in 2019, when it was more than three euros per share.

Renault is now reorganizing its 24-year alliance with Japan’s Nissan. Under the deal announced this month, Renault will reduce its stake in Nissan to 15 percent from the current 43 percent. The deal also sees Nissan buy up to a 15 percent stake in Ampere, which makes Renault electric cars.

The agreement came after months of tense negotiations. Relations between the partners have been strained since the arrest of the architect of this alliance and its former director Carlos Ghosn in 2018 due to a financial scandal.