Renault Shares Slide After Dip in Q3 Auto Sales

By Scott Kanowsky 

Investing.com -- Shares in Renault SA (EPA:RENA) fell in early European dealmaking on Friday after the French automaker said that supply constraints weighed on the number of cars sold by the French automaker in the third quarter.

Sales volumes slipped by 2.4% year-on-year to 481,000. The maker of brands like Dacia and Alpine flagged that it is still facing disruptions to the supply of key semiconductors, which have ebbed recently due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions in some areas of China, a major chip producer.

But this decline was partly offset by an uptick in the price tag of Renault's vehicles, which the firm said was necessary in response to cost and currency inflation. Group revenue grew by 20.5% to €9.8B. 

The top-line result was also boosted by a lower annual comparison. Renault adjusted the figure registered in the corresponding three-month period in 2021 to reflect the closure of its Russian operations in the wake of the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

The total financial impact from the disposal of these units came to €867M, the company said.

Meanwhile, Renault confirmed its 2022 financial guidance, saying it expects to post full-year operating margin above 5% and automotive operational free cash flow higher than €1.5B.

"The growth of the activity in the third quarter continues to reflect our commercial policy focused on value, set up for 2 years now: improvement of the pricing policy, optimization of commercial discounts and priority to the most profitable channels," said chief financial officer Thierry Piéton in a statement.