Renault SA posted a better-than-expected rise in quarterly sales as a successful launch of its revamped Megane model range helped it defy a faltering car market, Reuters reported.
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Europe’s fourth-biggest carmaker reportedly said in a statement its revenue rose 9% to €8.712 billion ($US10.17 billion), or 10% on a same-operations basis and using the same accounting methods as a year ago.
Reuters said analysts, who had been expecting revenue of around €8.2 billion, cheered the results, noting that Renault had not sacrificed price to sell more cars and that revenue was being driven by newer models that bring the company more profits.
“It’s very very good and considerably higher than what everyone expected,” Patrice Solaro, analyst at Julius Baer, told the news agency, adding: “The price and model mix had a very positive impact.”
Reuters noted that PSA Peugeot Citroen just posted a 3.5% fall in sales while DaimlerChrysler posted a sharper-than-expected drop in profit.
As expected, the news agency said, Renault confirmed an already lowered target for operating profit to represent 3.5 to 4% of sales this year but also said the firm’s market share in western Europe would be “as close as possible” to last year’s.
Reuters said that falls slightly shy of an earlier target to maintain or boost market share this year, though the company said in a statement it had expanded its slice of the market in the third quarter and expected the trend to continue to the end of 2003.
Renault is forecasting a western Europe drop of only 1-2% this year, Reuters said, compared to earlier forecasts of 3-4%, but it reiterated that the French market would stay grim, with a fall of 7%.
A company executive told Reuters on a conference call that new rules that harmonise car prices across Europe had also helped the company raise prices.
“We have been able to increase prices in some parts of Europe thanks to these rules, and have also been helped by the new models and an improved diesel mix,” financial services director Alain Dassas reportedly said.
Nine-month unit sales, including Renault’s Samsung and Dacia brands, fell 2.2% to 1,780,365 vehicles while unit sales in western Europe fell 4.5% as Renault was hit by weak demand in its domestic market, the Reuters report said.
