For months, Renault SA’s partnership with Nissan Motor Co. has been a strain on management and a public relations nightmare. Now the Japanese carmaker’s woes are hitting where it really hurts: the bottom line.
The largest French automaker, which owns 43% of Nissan, reported Friday that its partner’s poor performance in the first half cut net income by 21 million euros ($23.4 million). A year earlier Nissan added 805 million euros, or about 40% of profit.
The Japanese carmaker is smarting from slumping U.S. sales and aging vehicle models. The worsening results come at a time of heightened tension within the alliance with Renault in the aftermath of the arrest of their former chairman, Carlos Ghosn, who held the partnership together for almost two decades.
“Our top priority is to help Nissan get out of that situation,” Renault Chief Executive Officer Thierry Bollore said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. While Renault cut a sales target for this year, the carmaker is sticking to its profit outlook despite the industry slump.
In contrast, Nissan on Thursday announced a doubling in the number of jobs it plans to eliminate and unveiled new production cuts, while reporting a 99% drop in first-quarter profit. It blamed sales incentives and over-expansion under Ghosn. Nissan’s deteriorating results could help Renault take the upper hand in the teetering partnership.
While Renault owns a stake in Nissan, the Japanese automaker is the bigger partner in their alliance and in turn owns 15% of the French carmaker, with no voting rights. The lopsided shareholding arrangement has long been a source of tension.
The alliance partners, who include Mitsubishi Motors Corp., together produce some 10.8 million cars a year, almost double Ford Motor Co.’s global deliveries. The alliance would be second in vehicle sales only to Germany’s Volkswagen AG, with Toyota Motor Corp. a close third. Yet despite the cost benefits of cooperation on purchasing, design and manufacturing, doubts have grown about the future of the alliance.
Since Ghosn’s November arrest in Tokyo on allegations of financial crimes, which he has denied, Renault’s new chairman, Jean-Dominique Senard, has pushed for a merger Nissan didn’t want, and then pursued talks to combine with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV without telling its partner. Those talks collapsed after the French government made it clear it wanted Nissan to support the Renault-Fiat deal before entering an agreement.
Shared Dreams
While talks with Fiat have ended, Bollore said he shares the “same dreams” as Senard of reviving the deal. “The fundamentals for such a deal are there,” although the priority is for helping Nissan turn itself around.
Renault lowered its outlook for full-year sales on Fridayーsaying revenue will be close to last year’s level rather than growーbut kept its forecast for a group operating margin of 6%.
The shares were little changed at 52.32 euros by 11:14 a.m. in Paris trading, leaving them down 4.1% this year.
The results cap a mostly gloomy week for the automotive industry. Ford missed earnings estimates and gave a projection for 2019 profit that disappointed investors, while Tesla Inc. posted a worse-than-expected loss. Suppliers also suffered, with Continental AG shaving its targets. Among the brighter spots, France’s PSA Group booked a record profit margin at its automotive division and Volkswagen AG’s earnings beat estimates.
Renault is counting on new models, higher prices and cost-cutting measures to reach its profit targets in the second half, as well as its “fighting spirit,” Bollore said in a statement. Sales fell 6.7% in the first half and operating income dropped 12%.
It’s unclear how Nissan’s woes will affect Renault factories, said Franck Daout, a representative of the carmaker’s CFDT union. Renault’s plants in Cleons and Le Mans make parts for Nissan cars, and the manufacturer makes the Nissan Micra in its Flins plant outside of Paris.
Nissan already shifted production of the X-Trail model from Sunderland in the U.K., citing Brexit concerns, and has announced a plan to cut 600 jobs at a plant in Barcelona.
By Ania Nussbaum
