Renault Sa Unsp/Adr

Hello, everyone. We are pleased to welcome you for our Renault Group H1 results. These results are very special for us as it is the first day of our CEO, François Provost. That's why we have the pleasure to be here with all the team, our chairman, Jean-Dominique Senard, François Provost, our brand new CEO, This presentation will be followed by a Q&A session and I'm now happy to turn over to Jean-Dominique Sennard.

Good morning everybody. Thank you for being all with us. It's a special day, of course, today, and for me it's an extremely strong pleasure to introduce our new CEO, François Prevost. As you probably know, we went through a very intense and comprehensive selection process. Under the leadership of the Governance and Compensation Committee, led by Pierre Fleuriot, With the help of an enlarged jury, I would say, compiled with the chairman and chairwoman of the different committees of the board, we were able to work, I would say, quite swiftly during more than a small month to achieve what is, I think, a very strong result for the group. We conducted that process, I think, very professionally. Hearing, of course, external candidates and internal candidates. And I have to say that the group was lucky enough to have inside very strong internal candidates. And our choice came to François Fleuriot. During that period, with the help of Duncan here, CFO, I was happy to work closely with the team and make sure that this short transition period would be as swift, quiet, and peaceful, I would say, as could be, which has been the case. And I have to say that I'm extremely grateful for the professionalism of the team during that period. So, of course, I could give you a list of skills that are needed for a CEO to achieve his job. I will avoid that. But let me tell me and let me just give you a few items which I think are important that would characterize François Reveau. First of all, I think we have been very, very impressed by his manoeuvrability in terms of strategy, because this strategy manoeuvrability is absolutely essential for Renault in the coming months and years. There is another skill, of course, which is important, that he is reflecting some sort of continuity with what we have lived in the past five years. This continuity, of course, comes with open eyes. Open eyes to understand what has to be changed and what has to be maintained. And last but not least, because there are many others, He also is able, certainly, to make sure that Renault keeps a very strong standard in terms of performance, which I think is absolutely essential at the point where we have come today, at a very strong company with very good results. We have to be able, and he will make sure with the team, with my help, to create value for all the stakeholders of the Renault Group. Of course, he could spend hours mentioning his career, at least, as you know, 23 years in the Renault Group, serving the Group and making sure that Renault Group was first and he came second. That was absolutely essential. He has lived an international career in places which were not the most easy to live in, Korea, China, Russia, you name it. He has gone through all sorts of tasks in that company, so he is extremely well prepared for the task in front of him now. I'm absolutely sure that I have no doubts that François will be able to bring Renault in the future in a bright, bright future and make sure that not only will he be able to create with the team and with the help of the Board a very strong plan for the coming years, but he will also be able to make sure that it will be executed. And I think that is absolutely essential. So Francois, the word is yours. But I want not only to congratulate you, but to tell you that you will have the full support of the board and my personal support. As you know, I look forward, really, to working closely with you. Thank you, Francois.

The word is yours. Thank you. Thank you very much, Jean-Lominique. And good morning, good afternoon, everyone. Very pleased to be with you and honored to take on the role of CEO for Renault Group today. First of all, please allow me to thank Jean-Dominique and the Renault Board of Directors for their trust. I will put all my energy and passion into contributing with our 100,000 employees, our dealers, suppliers, partners, to the development and the transformation of our Group. one of the flagship of the French industry for 127 years. Thanks to the 23 years I have spent at Renault Group, I've been able to forge the vision that I am pursuing today for our group. It is a product-led vision shaped by more than 10 years in sales and marketing division. A vision that is not only European but multicultural, nurtured by 10 years spent managing our activities in Portugal, Russia, South Korea and China. A vision also based in cooperation through strategic partnerships with Nissan, Mitsubishi, Geely, Aramco and our major suppliers. And finally, a vision that draws on the Renault Group's outstanding human capital. This vision is supported by three strong convictions. Firstly, about strategy, product is at the heart. We'll keep as top priority to invest in products to deliver a second successful lineup in a row, both for Europe and international markets. We'll stay the course, value over volume. Every vehicle we sell must contribute to strengthening our brands, profitability, and the bottom line as a group. Regarding competitiveness, we know how our strongest competitors are doing, and we are capable to do so. For instance, Twingo developed in only 21 months. This is the right pace to apply this in all our projects, all places, and especially with our French and European ecosystem of R&D, production, and supplier ecosystem. This is about acceleration of our transformation. My third condition, based on my experience managing large end-to-end operations in highly uncertain environments, relies on strong engagement from employees. In French we say, having the diamond instead of the heart. This is the most important success factor, combined with enhancement of management. Customers. The improvement of our quality is one of the strong assets delivered over the past five years. Suppliers. As chief procurement, I change the traditional transactional way to engage with suppliers. Our suppliers should be involved much more upstream to define together the most effective solutions to reach expected features and cost. Dealers. Unlike other OEMs, we have always considered our dealers as key for sustainable commercial results and long-term partners. We will continue to do so. And for our shareholders, our duty is to create sustainable value. We are committed to increase shareholder return as a reward for their trust. Of course, the objective of this strategy is clear, deliver financial performance that places us among the best in the industry. And we deliver it in a runaway way, taking into account sustainable approaches for all our stakeholders, starting with our employees. We do so based on three fundamental pillars, sustainably high level of profitability, strong and consistent cash generation, and high roadshed, which proves that every euro we invest is used efficiently. This requires iron discipline in our investment, included in the choices we'll make as part of our diversification strategy. Thanks to the Renolution, we have very solid fundamentals. And I would like to take the opportunity to thank Luca for leading this unprecedented turnaround. We now have committed teams, strong brands, robust product plan, and agile, flexible organizational model supported by Ampère and ORS. Relying on those strong fundamentals, Renault Group needs Continuity, as you mentioned, in strategy, but also acceleration in transformation by focusing on flawless execution, remaining agile, and being obsessed by competitiveness. In a highly disruptive environment, we need to focus on what we can control, motivating our teams, setting and executing best level of performance, and enhancing our unique network of partners. Be assured that we are already hard at work and that the next few months are going to be busy. And I hand over to Duncan.

Thank you Francois. Hello everyone and thank you for joining the call this morning and the introductions. As announced two weeks ago, our results fell short of what was anticipated. Because of the gap between our numbers and sell-side estimates, we had to publish Our key figures with an operating margin at 6% of group revenue and a free cash flow of 47 million euros, including a negative change in working capital of approximately 900 million. This miss versus market expectations is explained by a weaker than expected performance in June, driven by slightly lower group volumes than expected, meaning we missed a few thousand invoices in the last few days of June. An increased commercial pressure in the market due to the continued decline in retail segments in some of our key markets. The underperformance of the LCV business which was down 29% in H1 and 40% in June in a sharply contracting European market which was down 13% in H1 and 19% in June. And lastly, a receivables level impacted by the billing timing differences in the final days of the month. As you can imagine, This outcome and our new financial outlook for 2025 are not aligned with our initial ambitions. This is why, as François just mentioned, we rolled out a targeted action plan to get back on track and ensure consistent delivery of our financial targets. Despite today's figures, we are confident that we have all the assets to make it happen and to deliver an H2 performance higher than H1. We strongly believe Renault Group remains in a solid position to face upcoming challenges and seize future opportunities. Why? Because despite the one-shot miss, I want to stress that we continue to build on solid fundamentals with a clear focus on continuous improvement. Since 2020, we've laid solid foundations and built a robust operational model. Our processes, structural enablers, and a healthy go-to-market strategy are firmly in place. The facts and figures speak for themselves. We operate an agile business model running on two legs, EVs on one side, ICE and hybrids on the other. I'll come back to this shortly. Our product focus remains unchanged, as Francais stated. In 2025 alone, we are launching seven new models and two facelifts, this coming off the back of 2024, with 10 models in the previous period. This guaranteeing by the end of the year, we'll be the mass market OEM with the freshest product lineup. We also continue to focus on our value over volume policy. It's a core fundamental. Embodied by our exposure to retail channels, we stand 15 points above the market average and aim at preserving a significant buffer to protect our business profile. This leads to residual values. Here we maintain a strong competitive edge thanks to this commercial policy as we stand 4 to 13 points above direct competitors in Europe. Our order book remains solid at two months. Our inventories are healthy, with 530,000 units compared to 560,000 at the end of March. And finally, we've already right-sized our industrial capacity. Today we display a best-in-class 90% utilization rate of our facilities. As I just said, one of the key strengths lies in the agility of our business model. It's built on two solid pillars and allows us to navigate the ever-changing dynamics of the energy transition. With Ampere, we have an EV and software champion designed to outpace the EV pure players in the race towards EV ice price parity. Over the past few months, we've confirmed our leadership in EV democratization in Europe on the PC market. Renault brand pure EV sales rose by 57% in H1 compared to a market growth of 25%. EV mix continued to progress, reaching 16% of sales for the Renault brand and 12% for the group. And our EV market share in Europe for Renault now stands at 5.5%. Renault 5 is the perfect embodiment of this strategy. It was crowned Car of the Year just one year after the Scenic, and since then, customer feedback and sales figures have been outstanding. It leads the European B EV segment with nearly 36,000 units sold in H1. And we'll continue the offensive with the 25,000 Euro version of Renault 5, which is now available. And we're just as strong on the hybrid front. With power and horse, we have an asset that generates cash, mitigates risks, and reinvents ice and hybrid technologies. It's clearly reflected in their performance in the HEV segment in H1. Renault Group sales in Europe are up 59%. That's including 36% increase for the Renault brand, while the market grew by 12%. HEV mix reached 41% for Renault brand and 31% for the Group. All in all, Renault Group ranked second in HEV sales in Europe with a 25% market share, It was coming off 20% at the end of 24 and only 2% back in 2020. So the machine is clearly set in motion. Sambios illustrates our HEV ambition. Even if it is a new nameplate, it's now our most sold full hybrid model within the Renault brand. It ranked second in the European C-segment HEV category with more than 42,000 units sold in the first half of the year. As you can see, with EV and software on one side, ICE and hybrid on the other, Renault is able to adapt to every pathway towards decarbonisation. It fully demonstrates the benefits provided by the agility of the business model. In fact, whatever the motorisation, we have the right offer for our customers. By the end of this year, we will benefit from the most competitive and appealing product line-up Renault Group has probably seen over the last 30 years. In 2024 alone, we launched 10 models and introduced two facelifts across all brands, all categories and all powertrains, from passenger cars to light commercial vehicles, from electric to hybrid for both European and international markets. And precisely when it comes to international markets, we're pursuing our product expansion, aiming to rebalance our presence between European and other key international markets. In the first half of the year, Renault brand sales outside Europe grew by 16% compared to the same period last year, driven by the commercial success of the first models of the international game plan. With models like Grand Collios and Cardian, we have demonstrated our ability to design vehicles perfectly suited to high potential markets, and our product offensive is far from over. We're continuing our offensive in 2025 across all our brands and all types of powertrains. On the EV side on the left, in Europe, we have Renault 4, which is probably underestimated because of the buzz surrounding Renault 5 at the moment. In May, we revealed Alpine A390. It's the symbol of the brand's reinvention and will further boost momentum. Duo and Bento to redefine connected and smart urban mobility. We're not forgetting our international roadmap with a new Renault Kwid. But as I said earlier, we're running on two legs. So alongside EV on the left, we are strengthening our ICE and hybrid offer on the right. The launch of Dacia Bigster is a major milestone in the brand's expansion into the C segment. The deployment of new Renault Boreal, scheduled for the end of this year, will mark another key milestone. This elegant, comfortable and high-end tech CSUV will be crucial in reinforcing our offer for the global market with a deployment in more than 70 countries. The facelift for Espace and Austral will also mark a new chapter for two important cars. And we reserve a little surprise in store that will be revealed in a few weeks in Munich. With seven launches and two facelifts, 2025 is clearly a busy year, but 26 will be just as exciting. Among the highlights, two launches will support our ambition to provide affordable and decarbonized mobility for all. The future Twingo will embody our commitment to accelerated EV in Europe. Developed in 21 months, just as François said, it will be one of the most affordable EVs in the market, priced below €20,000 and produced in Europe. A few months later, Dacia will follow with its new electric A-segment model, also made in Europe, and priced under 18,000. On the LCV side, 2026 will see a major year for Flexivan with the launch of new traffic, as well as Goelet and Estafet, three vehicles designed to meet the needs of modern urban logistics. These launches will be essential to support our ambition of becoming the number one electric LCV brand. With these solid foundations in place, we are confident in our ability to deliver a stronger second half. Let's now take a look at the financial results for H1. Starting with group revenues, increasing compared to H124 at 27.6 billion euros. At a constant exchange rate, it was up 3.6%. Automotive revenue stood at 24.5 billion euros, up 0.5% at constant exchange rates. It increased by 1.6%. The mobility services contribution amounted to 44 million euros, up 13 million compared to last year. And last but not least, mobilized financial services revenue increased 21.6% to 3.1 billion euros, mainly driven by higher interest rates and the increase in average ticket price. Drilling down on automotive revenue, it included 1.1 points of negative exchange rates, mainly driven by the devaluation of the Turkish lira, Brazilian real, and Argentinian peso. Constant exchange rates had increased by 1.6, as previously mentioned. After a negative volume impact recorded in Q1, volumes switched positive in Q2 and represented a total 1.1 points of positive impact over the semester. It's explained by increasing registrations, partly offset by the higher destocking within the dealership network in H125 compared to H124. Registrations, as you see, increased by 1.3% at 1,170,000 units at group level. As already mentioned, Renault Group is pursuing its strict commercial policy, prioritizing value creation over volume to protect residual values of our vehicles. Let's have a look at the different brands. Starting with the Renault brand, showed a growth in its total global sales of 2.7% versus H124. Renault brand was once again the best selling French car brand in the world, and continued its progression with 36% of its sales now made outside Europe. On international markets, the brand increased by 16% in a market up 4.7, thanks to the commercial success of products from our international game plan, notably Grand Collios in South Korea and Cardian in LATAM and Morocco. In Europe, the brand progressed and became number two in PC and LCV market with Clio, the best-selling model across all channels. On passenger cars, Renault brand registered the strongest sales growth among the top 15 brands with an 8.4% increase in a market down 1%. Renault brand pursued its electrification in Europe representing 59% of its mix. Nearly one in two vehicles sold by the brand is a hybrid. The sales figures were boosted by the very strong performance of hybrid cars, with 36% increase year on year. The brand is now ranked number two in the hybrid market. 100% electric vehicles represented 16% of its European PC sales, driven notably by Renault 5, the leader in Europe in the B-segment EV. Renault pursued conquest of the C and above segments, representing 40.1% of its mix, supported by Austral, Rafale and Espace, of course, and Symbiose. On LCV in Europe, the brand sales decreased by 29% because of a market down 13% and our transition product plan. We particularly suffered in the month of June, as I stated, although orders in the month were up 12% year on year. Worldwide, Dacia recorded total sales down 0.7%, mainly due to the end of Duster in Turkey, which is now sold under the Renault brand in line with the Renault brand international game plan. In Europe, Dacia PC sales were up 1.1% and confirmed its place on the podium of the PC retail market with its five key models. Dacia Sandero is again the best-selling private car across all channels in Europe in H1, and number two best-selling car all channels combined in passenger car and light commercial vehicles. Dacia Duster remains the best-selling SUV for retail, and Dacia Spring recorded more than 19,000 vehicles sold in H1, plus 62.5% versus the previous period. In total, we have more than 180,000 customers who have become spring owners since its launch, and it still remains the most accessible 100% electric offering on the European market. With Bixta, we have strong contender in the C-segment profit pool. This was illustrated by a very positive momentum and good penetration in traditional C-SUV markets such as France, Germany, but also Austria, Poland, and Switzerland. We can already measure a significant public interest in Bigster, with more than 38,000 orders registered since launch. The order intake was thus solid and the order book healthy. Registrations were ramping up and will accelerate in H2. These figures are very encouraging for a vehicle that allows us to maximise margins, thanks to its development on the CMFB platform and a high proportion of high trims, 88% to be precise, based on the order so far. Bigster is also a true conquest product for us with about 80% conquest rate to date, which is strong for a brand new plate. While staying true to brand positioning, it's enabled Dacia to access new profiles, wealthier customer profiles who were not looking at Dacia before. Alpine continued its progression with 5,015 units sold. It delivered 85% volume increase versus last year, benefiting from the A110 and the A290. A290 was elected Car of the Year 2025, found success with 3,700 registrations worldwide, and we're still in the process of launching the car in Japan and the Nordics. On the two-seater sport coupe market, Alpine confirmed its leading position in Europe with 1,181 A110 registrations. Alpine orders are ramping up prior to the arrival of the A390, which will hit the road starting at the very end of this year. Turning to inventories, the destocking within the dealership network was higher in H125 compared to H124, which impacted negatively the volume effect. At the end of June, total inventories were down by 30,000 versus March and represented 530,000 vehicles, which is a healthy level. Rena Group continued to proactively manage distribution inventory. The level of inventories is fully supported by a strong order take fueling a sound order book standing at two months of forward-looking sales. Then the sales to partners effect was negative 1.9 points due to a high comparison base for three main reasons, all of them which we had expected. As you know, a positive R&D billing one-off was recorded in H124. The revenues from horse powertrains sold to partners was deconsolidated at the end of May 24, and the decrease of vehicle sales to partners ahead of the forthcoming launches of new models, these will be Nissan Micra, a CSUV for Mitsubishi, and Polestar 4 for Geely in South Korea. Let's now have a look at our price, product mix and geomix effects. In H1, the price effect was neutral due to a challenging environment in Europe marked by the decline in the retail market and a sharply declining LCV market, which led to an increase in commercial pressure. Outside Europe, most of the negative currency impact was offset by price increases. The positive product mix effect of 3.3 points was supported by the Group's recent launches, Bigster, Duster, Symbiose, the Renault 5, the A290 from Alpine, Grand Collier Saint Raphael, and this effect should continue to improve in the coming semester. The geographical mix impacted negatively for 1.1 points, mainly explained by the increasing sales outside of Europe, with 28.9% of its mix compared to 26.6 in the first half of 2024. Now let's switch the operating margin analysis. This half we posted an operating profit at 1.65 billion euros down 522 million euros representing 6% of revenue. Excluding the horse impact the group reached 1.7 billion euros down 243 million euros representing 6.3% of revenue down 1.1 points versus H124. The automotive segment operating margins stood at 1 billion euros or 4% of auto revenue. Mobilized financial services operating profit increased by 75 million euros to reach 0.7 billion euros. Deep diving on the group's operating margin evolution, the impact of currencies was slightly negative at 25 million euros, reflecting mainly the positive impact of the Turkish lira on production costs, offsetting the negative impact that you saw in the devaluation on revenue. The positive volume impacts of our invoices was partially impacted by the decrease of sales to partners, leading to 48 million euros. Price mix enrichment effect was a negative 444 million euros, mainly due to the combination of a negative mix effect with a lower share of LCVs and a higher share of EVs alongside the commercial pressure. Costs improved by €287 million, mainly thanks to a strong purchasing performance of €234 million and a raw material tailwind of €182 million. We continue to reduce our costs in order to pass part of it to the customers, and we manage the combination of the price-mix enrichment effect plus the costs effect to boost our competitiveness. This combined effect should be positive in H2 and for the full year. The €166 million negative impact on R&D was mainly due to the high comparison in H1 2024 with the non-recurring R&D bill to partners last year, as mentioned in the revenues. SG&A expenses improved by €16 million and others' effects stood at €34 million. The last bucket highlights the impact of horse deconsolidation. Since HORSE was deconsolidated, invoices paid to HORSE by Renault Group include the cost of amortization again, as well as HORSE's markup. These two accumulated effects represented a negative impact of €279 million in H125 compared to H124. Mobilized financial services generated €11.1 billion of new financing, up 3.8% thanks to the growth in registrations and in average financed amount. Average performing assets amounted to €58.9 billion, up €4 billion versus H1 2024, driven mainly by a strong commercial activity on the customer finance business since 2023, following the end of the electronic component shortage and, of course, thanks to the success of our range. Net banking income as a percentage of average performing assets improved by 10 basis points, highlighting the robust margin policy of the bank. Cost of risk at 0.39% remains in line with the same period last year and with their historical levels. Operating costs and percentage of average performing assets remain stable versus last year. It's worth noting that in 2024, operating costs level in absolute value was impacted by a positive one-off of 23 million euros. Excluding this one-off, operating costs in absolute value would be almost stable versus 24. Overall, Mobilise Financial Services posted an operating profit of €668 million, up €75 million year-on-year. Moving to key items from our Group P&L below the operating margin line, other operating income and expenses were negative at €10.1 billion, It mainly included the loss linked to the change of the accounting treatment of Renault Group's stake in Nissan for €9.3 billion. It corresponded to the difference between the present carrying value of the investment and the fair value based on Nissan's stock price as of June 30, 2025, plus notably the impact of the recycling of conversion reserves and net investment hedges related to Nissan's equity accounting securities. This loss is non-cash and has no impact on the calculation of the dividend we will pay. The benefit of this evolution is that from now on, any change in the fair value of the stake in Nissan based on Nissan's stock price will be directly recognised in equity with no impact on the net income. We will continue to benefit from any dividends that Nissan may pay in the future. The improvement of our net financial expenses was mainly explained by a negative impact of hyperinflation in Argentina in the first half of 2024. Profit from associated companies at minus 2.3 billion euros compared to 195 million in the first half of 2024. This is primarily driven by Nissan's contribution, which stood at negative 2.3 billion euros with a Q1 at negative 2.2 billion and a Q2 at 0.1 billion euros. Current and deferred taxes represented a charge of €324 million, including €24 million related to the French exceptional surtax, compared to a charge of €328 million in H1 2024. All in all, and excluding Nissan's impacts, net income reached €461 million. Let's turn to Nissan. As you know, since 2023, the group has embraced a pragmatic, business-driven approach to our partnership, focusing on projects that are meaningful and create tangible value. In Europe, this translates into the upcoming launch of the new Nissan Micra in September and a future A-segment electric vehicle planned for 2026. They will both be produced in our European plants, leveraging the assembly lines and EV architecture developed for the Renault 5 and Twingo. We remain also partners for the LCV-related projects leveraging the existing range for LCV. But there is more. As you know, India is a strategic priority for Renault Group. It's set to become one of the most dynamic automotive markets. That's why we have joined forces with Nissan on the co-development and production agreement in this country with a B-segment MPV set for 2026 and a C-segment SUV by the end of crossing over between 2026 and 2027. As you can see, whether in the familiar territory of Europe or in the high potential market of India, we can count on our renewed alliance to deliver. This new approach to our partnership with Nissan is also reflected in the evolution of our governance scheme, a matter treated separately from the operational projects. As you know, we've changed our accounting treatment. From now on, it will no longer impact Renault Group's net income, and the impact of this change will be excluded from dividend calculation. We also increased our flexibility regarding the cross-shareholdings. The new alliance agreement between Renault Group and Nissan was amended to increase the flexibility for each party regarding their cross-shareholdings by setting the lock-up undertaking at 10% instead of the 15% previously. And finally, there is no need for an investment from Nissan in Ampere. This agile governance allows us to focus on what truly matters between us, the new business opportunities we can generate. So now let's move to free cash flow generation. Starting from the top line, the cash flow included a 150 million euro dividend from MFS, versus 600 million euro dividend in H1 2024. Net capex and R&D expenses included asset sales improved by more than 200 million euros and accounted for 6.8% of revenue. The change in working capital requirement was a headwind of 897 million euros, mainly related to the level of production at the end of 2024, higher than that at the end of June 2025, and to higher group inventories levels compared to the end of 2024, which was at a particularly low level. All in all, Renault Group generated 47 million euros of free cash flow in H1 2025. The automotive net cash financial position stood at 5 billion 890 million on June 30th 2025, compared to 7,096,000,000 on December 31st, 2024. This evolution was driven by the dividends we paid to shareholders for 693,000,000, net financial investments for 173,000,000 mainly in free tweaks, a subsidiary of Autostrade Per Italia operating a fast charge network in Italy, Forex, IFRS, Sixteen Impact and others, for €387 million, partly related to our Renolution employee share plan. The liquidity reserves stood a comfortable level of €15.8 billion. Thank you for your attention and I hand back to François for the financial outlook and your conclusion.

Thank you Duncan. Looking now at our outlook. Taking into account the deterioration of the automotive market trends with increasing commercial pressure from competitors and the anticipation of the continuation of a retail market decline, we are aiming to achieve for full year 2025 a group operating margin around 6.5%, a free cash flow between 1 and 1.5 billion euros. We benefit from clear levels to drive a superior performance in H2 against H1. This will be notably by higher volume on the second half of the year. It will be driven by three factors. The strong level of orders in June. They were up 6% in total in the month of June. The effect of the ramp-up of our launches. We mentioned Bigster as an example in our presentation today. And thirdly, we expect increased sales to partners with, for example, Nissan Micra, Mitsubishi CSU in Europe, and Polestar 4 in Busan in South Korea. On top, and I will come back to this in a minute, but we are reinforcing our discipline and strict control on both viral and fixed cost. The combined effect of price mix enrichment and cost should be positive for H2 and full year operating margin. Coming back to the cost measures, we made significant improvement over the last quarters, but obviously, our recent miss has led us to reinforce these measures with three main areas, which are variable cost, productivity, and smart spending. On variable cost, we have set multi-year targets to improve with the first effects expected in 2025. In 2025, we target the 400 euro cost COGS reduction per vehicle, mainly driven by purchasing performance and logistic optimization. This will be a plain value figure, which does not include nor Forex nor RoMAX FX. We did improve in H1, and it will accelerate in H2. And the purchasing will benefit, as an example, from the competitiveness of us to buy powertrains. The productivity focus has been enlarged significantly to spread across all functions within the group. This comes along with our speed of lightness program, aiming to shrink the cycle time on the key processes of the company. Less time means less money spent. The most obvious and the most important example being the development time of our vehicles, coming down to two years or even less. Beyond variable costs, we set targets on all fixed costs, then can be responsible overall and with our CHO in support for labor costs. To conclude, allow me to share my agenda as CEO for the coming weeks. First, engage with the teams in all functions and countries, as well as our partners. Second, to focus on operational efficiency to deliver H2 and solve few complexity roadblocks. And third, together with the leadership team and with all our teams, work on our mid-term plan targeting Q1 2026 for our Capital Market Day. We have one ambition to deliver sustainable, best-in-class value for the years to come. Thank you for your attention. We are now open We will now open the Q&A session led by Philippine.

Thank you, François. So we'll start with the first question from Michael Fundukidis. Odo, Michael, the floor is yours.

Yes. Hi. Good morning. Good morning, everyone. And first, welcome, Francois, and congratulations and all the best, obviously, in your new role. I have three quick questions. First one, you postponed the CMD to Q1. I would not say that it's a total surprise following the recent weeks, but is it a sign that we could expect a more in-depth strategic review, or should we still expect some kind of, let's say, strategic continuity as you hinted at during your initial remarks? Second question, could you give us more color regarding the specific impact of the light commercial vehicle's weakness within your results in H1 and the improvement that you foresee in H2? And maybe last, a very quick one, as new CEO, do you have initial comments to share with us on your Formula One strategy and involvement, and if we should expect any change on that in the near future? Thank you.

Thank you. Regarding the CMD, I intend to release in Q1 2026 for three reasons. The first one is continuity, as mentioned by Jean-Dominique, so you will not be surprised, but our strategy will be within continuity because it is a successful strategy and in the sharing with the board of directors, this is also something the board completely supports. The second reason is regarding the diagnosis. Of course, I have my diagnosis, but it is important at this point of time to share openly, widely, especially internally, our situation. And the third reason, and you know this, is that we are facing unprecedented disruption in our industry. So it is also important to assess, call head, all external factors and to embed this in our next mid-term plan. Maybe for LCV I will let Fabrice answer, but for Formula One. Formula One is part of our core strategy for Alpine. And this I do not intend to change. The unique priority for Formula One team is performance. Improve performance this year. And of course, moreover, to succeed 2026 with the new car. So this is a unique priority given to Formula 1. Regarding LCV, Fabrice?

Well, LCV has always been our Formula 1 in terms of... Profitability and performance, and of course, this first semester was a transition period, and to come back on the numbers you asked, of course, I think LCV in the first semester will present nearly half of the decrease in MOP you can see on the numbers we presented now. Why? For two main reasons. First of all, the market was bearish with a double-digit decrease, more than 13% in Europe, And the second point is that, master, we are facing a transition period with a very good product, but just partial diversity we will fulfill in the coming months. It means H2 should be at the level minimum of the market. with a much better diversity, especially with the launch of the rear wheel drive version, and of course also a complement in terms of diversity with traffic. This should allow us not only to be at market level, which still be very difficult, but also to keep our momentum in terms of residual value, because of course we play on LCV with very high residual value, and we never damaged that. 2026 should be better with a good momentum, especially with the full complete master range, which is very important. And of course, we plan also to launch additional electric models, especially with the new traffic e-tech to reinforce also our presence on this sub-segment.

Thank you, Fabrice. We now have a question from Thomas Besson, Kepler Chevreux. Thomas, please could you open your mic?

Thank you, Philippine. Good morning, everyone. I have three questions as well, please. The first for François and Jean-Dominique, probably. Could you please talk about your view on the size of Renault and the need for partners and also providers with... an update on your large partnerships that you've just mentioned quickly, Horse and Flexis, and tell us where you stand on these. The second and third question, probably more for Duncan. Duncan, could you please talk about the targeted level of inventory at TRN? In the second half of last year, you increased inventories quite a bit, which I think boosted to some extent the performance of H2, but not the performance of H1. Do you intend to increase inventory the same way you did in the second half of last year? Or ideally, could you provide us with a landing number in terms of absolute level of inventories at your end and talk about the level of retail share you think you're going to be able to get in H2 versus H1? And the last question is very, very simple. CapEx declined substantially in H1. Do you expect that to be the level for the full year in terms of percentage of cells, or should we expect CapEx in absolute terms and percentage of cells to eventually increase? Thank you very much.

Jean-Dominique, maybe first? Okay, yes, Thomas, thank you for the question, and François will pick it up. Just to mention that, of course, the issue about the size of the company is clearly a point that we have in mind as far as the future is concerned. By the way, size has not been a problem in the past few years. It has actually helped the company to be quite flexible, rather fast in decision making. Honestly, from my point of view, it has not been a bad period. Now certainly when you look at the geopolitics of the car industry in the coming years, the issue about size is on the table. We just have to be very cautious about this issue because we can't be wrong. Actually, so far we have been through with the Blue Cardi Meo strategy and the team through a partnership strategy, which honestly so far has been quite good. When it comes to Nissan, for example, everybody mentions that the Nissan relationship with Renault is diluted, but as a paradox, I would say, we have never had as many industrial projects since I've been here in the group. In the past six years, we have never had as many operational projects. François mentioned them in his speech. In India, in Europe, with Mitsubishi and Nissan, I think this is very profitable and this has to be continued. We are friends of Nissan. Nissan is going through a very difficult period of restructuring. It has to do it. It is happening. The program is good. It just has to be executed. So we're following that very closely. It's important for us just because at least we could say Nissan holds 15% of Renault. I think on that part, when it comes to Nissan, to Geely, to Qualcomm, to all these partners, it has enriched the group in the past years, and I think that was good. Now, when it comes to the future, we'll have strong reflection about all these partnerships, and I'm sure that François and the team will not only reflect on that, but come with proposals in the coming weeks and months to see how we can maneuver in that new environment. I hope that answers your question, Thomas. Just to be sure that we have not been wrong in the past years in the management of our size and partnership. I think it was good for the group.

Thank you, Jean-Émile. Maybe to complement about size, we have to grow by ourselves. In Europe, I'm convinced that we have the potential to do more, but also thanks to our competitiveness and innovation to be attractive also to support some other OEM as we showed with Nissan and Mitsubishi. We have to grow outside Europe, but my opinion is that we have to do it based on clear priorities, and this will be part of our next mid-term plan. Regarding partnership, as mentioned by Jean-Dominique, and I know this because I piloted most of the partnership agreements we have done over the past years, the smart way we are doing partnership is good. I think as well that, as Renault, we are capable to do partnership, and this is probably also a benefit of the Alliance over the past 25 years, and we feel this in all the relationship and partnership we have. More specifically to your questions, ORS is a super successful project. Of course, I am a big fan of ORS because I initiated this project in 2021. The management of ORS is doing very well, led by Matthias Giannini. The operations are smooth. We start to see some cost reduction for us. But moreover, I'm very confident that ORS will be capable very soon to show capabilities to sell to third parties. So I'm very, very confident with ORS. Regarding Flexis, the development of the Flexivan is doing well, and this is a priority for Flexis. I think we cover genomic size and partnership and for especially CAPEX and Duncan.

Yeah, thanks, Thomas. So I'll take the question. The first question was on inventory for me. So last year, we did see inventory rise in H1 and it actually rose in H2 as well. So we rose across the full year. We've decreased so far in H1 compared to 31st of December. And I think we might still decrease slightly towards the end of the year, but something around the level we have or slightly below would be the guidance I would give. On capex, the question was, maybe you could remind me, Thomas.

Yeah, the question was, do you intend to have such a low level of capex in absolute terms and as a proportion of sales, or should we expect this to rise in H2?

No, due to the seasonality of rollouts of launches, we'll have a higher capex in H2.

Great, thank you very much for your answers.

Thanks, Thomas.

Thank you. We now have a question from Pushkar Tendulkar, HSBC. Pushkar, please, could you open your mic?

Hello, thanks Philippine and good morning everyone. My first question is just on the bridge or the PEV development within that. You mentioned the higher PEV makes was a dilutive effect on the operating profit. In your previous guidance, you had sort of a 1% dilution effect due to PEVs. Was it around that ballpark level in H1? And then more importantly, how do you see that for H2, given the CO2 relaxation that the EU has offered? That's the first one. And the second one, slightly longer term-ish, you've had a strong margin development in the last three, four years now, 7% implied in H2 exit rate. I saw one of the slides you talked about maintaining good margins and not improving margins. So I just wanted to like, what do you view as margins going forward from year in 26, 27, especially with costs now, as you say, they're going to come down.

Thank you. Yes, thanks, Pushkar. Yes, so EV mix obviously does, as it ramps up in, you know, as the volume of sales ramp up, because of the higher costs that we have on the EV side at this point in the cycle, because obviously we have a huge cost reduction plan that's well implemented at Ampere and will bring things down. But at this point in the cycle, it does impact negatively on the operating margin bridge, as you correctly stated. I probably dissociate that to the guidance from the beginning of the year of the one-point impact of CAFE because that was both mix and price outlook expectations to be able to be in line as we are today in trajectory for the passenger car part of the CAFE with the three-year bank and borrow. The negative parts you saw, I mean as Fabrice said, one of it on the price mix enrichment, a large part came from LCV. The second is the ramp up of EV and then also the more difficult pricing situation we have in Europe. And that is also felt on the EV side of things.

Yes, maybe to answer to your second question about long term margin. I think we should have two principles. The first one is value versus volume, and this we will continue. At the same time, we have to be lucid that we expect some additional pressure, and we have to stay in the market, so we expect pressure from competitors. It's why the second principle is to be best in class in competitiveness. Because competitiveness, it is what we can control. The rest we cannot control. So on one side, value versus volume. On the other side, best in class in performance and competitiveness. This is, I think, the good way to set a principle in order to keep the high margin we intend to keep.

Thank you, Francois. We now have a question from Renato Guardiolio from UNITESA. Renato, the floor is yours.

Yes, good morning. My first question is on your performance in international markets. Despite the challenging environment, you are continuing to perform well. Maybe it's part of the next plan, strategy update, but what's your strategy there? Where do you see the highest opportunities and how are you seeing any rising competitive pressure from Chinese OEMs in any market outside of Europe? Do you expect any further potential partnership with Geely as a potential way to face this kind of competition? Then the second question is on the commercial pressure you have been citing. Could you give any further indication, even qualitative, on what are currently the most impacted segments or markets from this competitive pressure? Are you pushing a value over volume strategy also for light commercial vehicles or are you seeing any rise in pressure also there?

thank you thank you for the question regarding international markets we we are getting stronger in europe now it's time to move to international it is international game plan and i support of course this direction my view about growing outside europe is that we have to make choices and and and for me the obvious priorities are first South America, because we are strong there. As you mentioned, Chinese OEMs are super aggressive there, but it is also why our smart way to partner and the partnership with Geely is very innovative way to manage our growth in South America. And this is a very, I think, win-win and innovative agreement. And the second priority is India. India is a tough market, but at the same time we represent the main growth driver for the TIV by 2030. So it's tough, but I'm really confident about India. And as you know, we've already done some release about the way we intend to move in India. Regarding the commercial pressure, maybe Denis, Fabrice, you want to answer to give first Dacia?

Well, I will give a first highlight. Yes, the commercial pressure is there. We already mentioned, right? As for Dacia, what we try to do is to continue a value of a volume, which is what you saw in the H1, because in the H1, we just have a very light growth because we stepped back on the volume of the Sunday row, which is down 7% alike. the retail market. Lucky we are, in a way, it was not luck because we prepared it, that the new cars are coming and, of course, the conquest that we are making with the Big Sur, which is a totally new segment for us, will permit a growth in the H2. So this will permit to resist, in a way, to this commercial pressure by strictly continuing the value of a volume for Darcia, for sure.

Fabrice, for Renault and LCV? I would say, except of LCV, our new lineup for Renault based on those two legs, hybrid and electric, is enabling us to manage the commercial pressure at a level where we never destroy our residual value, which is the most important thing for the future. It means we are gaining share of market on PC in Europe, as you can see, and we are gaining share of market without additional commercial pressure. We are just following the market, looking carefully channel by channel the right level of net pricing we have to do. But frankly speaking, we are quite stable versus last year, and we are focused on value before volumes, even though we can see that our lineup is giving growth, not only in Europe on PC, but also in international markets, as François said. I think the best way to answer to the commercial pressure is with the quality of our products. and the launch we made for instance on international market with cardinal with with duster with coleos in korea and with boreal now in brazil is the best lever to offset this commercial pressure thank you fabrice we now have a question from steven reitman bernstein steven please could you open your mic yes good morning and thank you very much and first of all again congratulations francois on the of the new position um

I think you're very uniquely qualified to comment on the part of the program you were talking about, which is improving cost of goods sold. And maybe you can comment on how much has been achieved already in this target in 2025. You said it's accelerating in the second half of the year. Maybe you could also say the sort of areas where you're concentrating on particularly. And secondly, a question on vans. The vans have already got the phase-in as well, as well as the passenger cars, but there's still concern that not enough commercial customers are switching to the BEV, and so it's harder for them to reduce the average fleet CO2 emissions. Where do you think the Commission is and where are you in terms of your lobbying in terms of trying to get the standards for vans moved together with cars, or rather to allow the projects credits that are going to be achieved by cars, are they allowed to help offset the sort of like the tougher performance on vans?

Yeah, regarding H2 better than H1, you take the question?

Yes, now you're in the CEO, I'm sure you'll continue to support me, but a couple of months ago I was challenging you on the purchasing side, so I can confirm that we're slightly below the 400 euros per unit in H1. I mean, you probably expect a plus or minus 10% switch in terms of acceleration in H2, and those plans don't come out of nowhere. They're already well in place, and so... I'm quite confident they are mainly in the purchasing area, Stephen, but we do have some additional support from logistics.

Regarding the second question for LCV CAFE compliance issue, I confirm the situation is tough for us. The situation is tough for all OEMs. So it's why, of course, we are vocal to share reality with governments and EU. And I can tell you that it is important topic that we are discussing and I expect progress within the next months. As a new CEO and regarding EU regulation, be sure that each time Renault interest is at stake, I will be very vocal. Thank you.

Thank you, Francois. Very clear. So we now have a question from Henning Kosman, Barclays. Henning, please could you open your mic?

Yeah, good morning. I hope you can hear me.

Yes.

Perfect. Good morning. Thank you. Welcome, Francois. I have two questions that I know. The first one was to also understand a little bit better the relationship of orders and results or visibility of results, right? Because it appears that there was quite a bit of deterioration in performance quite late in the month, last few days, weeks. And so I wanted to understand again how the concept of this two-month order backlog, how that holds in these sort of scenarios, not least given that you referenced the order book and the strong orders in June also as a key contributor for the confidence that we have in the second half so that's really the first question if you could elaborate on that a bit more please and the second question if you could make the comment on dividends maybe Is it fair to assume that the dividend will go up year over year in Euro terms? And, yeah, if we could confirm that by any chance, even with a sort of quantification, considering that we've now reported the Nissan results and how that's going to be adjusted. Thank you very much.

Ironing maybe if it's okay, I just the lines not super clear. So I'll just repeat the question to make sure we've got we're going to answer it for you. The first part was on orders in June and then linked to the missing invoicing at the end of June. That was correct in the first one and the confidence in the second half of the year. Yeah. If it is, I can't hear anything, but we'll go for that one. So yes, unfortunately, the logistics, the supply, the invoicing flow was quite highly concentrated at the end of June, and we did miss a few thousand units. This sort of reflects the flows that we had over the period. Not only did they were missed in terms of volumes, but also some of the volumes came in the very latter days of the month. This meant we hadn't actually received all of the cash for those. um obviously those two impacts will have washed out in july because those vehicles have now been delivered and we've also been fully paid for those so i think it's more of a sort of one-time miss impact on that landing of 30th of june the orders in the month of june continued to be strong so we saw an increase in orders compared to previous period in May, in June. And particularly, I'd say for the first time on LCV, orders were up at 12% in June. We hadn't seen, you know, May was the first month we'd seen order take lift for LCVs. Obviously, there's a time lag with that. Some of these are converted vehicles. They take quite a time to come through. But the dynamic was strong and that continued through July as well. So maybe that answers your question on the difference between the order book, which remains strong at two months and actually accelerated in June, and the miss on the timing of deliveries and therefore invoicing at the end of the year, at the end of the period.

Thank you. Then again, regarding dividends, I confirm that there will be no change in our intention to increase the return to shareholders through dividends.

Thank you, Francois. We now have a question from Horst Schneider, Bank of America. Horst, please, could you open your mic?

Yes, good morning, and I hope you can hear me. The first question that I have is related a little bit more color for H2 with regard to your bridge. Just to be clear on volumes, You are aiming for higher volumes year over year, but also sequentially. And could you maybe provide any color about the magnitude of the increase that is needed to meet the guidance? Then I see on this mix and net enrichment, of course, in H1, the compase was still high. In H2, I think the compase is getting more favorable. But will mix net enrichment stay negative also in H2? Then the more strategic question that I have for Francois is maybe on the software-defined vehicle. You mentioned also in one of your comments the FlexiVan. I think the FlexiVan is your first software-defined vehicle. I have not found or have not seen that you are already developing a software-defined, truly software-defined vehicle with zonal domain architecture in the passenger car area. So am I right that you still need for this particular project a new partner and then you aim to have such a software-defined vehicle in the passenger car area? Thank you.

Okay, so before the second question, Duncan, you take the first one.

Yes, I'll refrain from giving Horst a specific volume increase, but yes, I confirm we've got a volume increase planned for H2. We do have, obviously, as I said, order book was up, so year on year, and that's the second month now as well. good confidence level on that. We will be sequentially obviously H1 to H2 higher volumes in H2 and not forgetting I think some of the comments Francois made on the additional boost that will come from partner volumes as well because we start to see the launch of some of these vehicles in H2. The mix price evolution, so we've given guidance to say that the net of the two will be positive. So that's net of the mix price enrichment with the costs will be positive in H2 and I think positive full year as well. I still expect some mix negative if we just look at that bucket alone compared to the previous year. As you rightly point out, the comparison base is better.

Yeah, all right, thank you.

Regarding your second question, SDV, but moreover, electronic architecture. First of all, we have already succeeded to have a good e-architecture on all our Renault-Lution cars. And this is acknowledged by the market, by the customers. And we, of course, extend this to all the lineup in Europe, but also outside Europe. meaning that we have the scale with our current e-architecture, which will remain a high mix, of course, in the coming years. I would like to share with you that we have also the capability to improve this existing e-architecture along the life cycle, which is something we see as a strong point of our Asian competitor, and this now we, Renault Ampère, we are capable to do. On the SDV, it's true, our decision was to start with the Flexivan by purpose in order to start with LCV, but as you can imagine, such an investment is not only for LCV We have already embedded in our long-term plan to use this HDV also for passenger cars. Please be a bit patient and wait our next mid-term plan in Q1 2026.

All right, thank you.

Thank you, Francois. So, we now have a last question from Rosé Soumendi, J.P. Morgan. Rosé, please, could you open your mic?

Thank you very much. Good morning, Josef and JP Morgan and Francois. Very welcome and congratulations on the new role. Maybe just Francois, let us ask you, you know, with your background in purchasing amongst other roles, how do you think about protecting the profitability of Dacia? And when we look at that commonality across components between Dacia and Renault, How do you ensure that, you know, going forward, particularly in the light of the transition to into BV? The second question, as we think about the financials, Duncan, just to follow up on this, I understand, right, that the price mix enrichment and cost will be a positive bucket in the second half and the full year and if you could just remind us again what is the biggest improvement sequentially second half versus the first half and then finally general nick i would love to get to take please when i and maybe this was a question for you know for francois but as i think about transparency creating that trust with investors and financial transparency, which I think is linked to both elements. We're seeing one common denominator across most of the OEMs, a lot of the OEMs really, which is the quarterly reporting of earnings and cash flow. Do you think this is something you would encourage Renault to change? We've seen other car companies like Stellantis now adopting this business model. I think it would be really helpful for Renault going forward. Thank you.

Regarding your first question, regarding commonalities, and especially commonalities, if I understood well, between Renault and Dacia, yes, of course, we will continue this. I think our strategy is, on one side, we have dedicated platform and the one we have now with R5, R4 show the capability of Renault, of Ampère to do this. And on the other side, we have this very successful CMFB platform, which is the basis of the success of Dacia in Europe and of Renault outside Europe. For sure, we'll continue. The electrification, we know more or less the path because we monitor carefully what the best-in-class competitors, basically the Chinese competitors, are doing. So we know what we have to do. And this is what now we have to prepare in the course of the next midterm plan. Regarding the second question, Duncan?

Yeah, hi, Rosie. So the question was on mixed price and what's the biggest driver, I think. Yeah.

The question was price, mix, enrichment, cost. I think that's a positive bucket in the second half of the year and also in the full year. So what is the biggest one?

I confirm that's what we stated was that we term positive the sum of the two in the full year and the, you know, turn positive in the second half and then the sum of including the first half would be four year positive for the two combined. So product mix is probably one of the biggest things. You know very well the Bigster is a very strong profitability driver on the Dacia side and having that Full speed for both quarters is going to make, I guess, a very significant difference. And the very strong order that we have today gives us a lot of comfort behind that. But there's also other supporters. We've got the Renault 4 coming in. As you know, we've got the Grand Collier. We have, even if we went to look to pick up Better orders on the Scenic E-Tech. And I guess they're the biggest, if I had to cite just one and not get confused in detail, the biggest would be those. Obviously, the cost reduction accelerates in H2 compared to H1 in the plain vanilla format that Francois told us about. So, with excluding FX and raw mat, tailwinds.

Yes, and I confirm, as chief procurement, I confirm that the trend for cost reduction is good, even very good, better than... than what we said at the beginning of the year, which is, of course, very useful to offset the additional commercial pressure. So I confirm this fully. Regarding the third question, transparency, quarterly release, maybe Jean-Dominique, your views.

Well, thank you for the question. I have to... I would say conclude this presentation on this point, but I don't want to disappoint you. I've had this question many times in my life. I'm not absolutely sure that the quarterly reporting helps much in the transparency and the management of a company, because it only adds up some sort of stress to make sure that the figures are what they should be. notably in the automotive business. The cycles are so complex that I would say a quarterly report is probably not the right solution to assess appropriately the performance of a company. So I'm probably going to disappoint you, but I think we're not going to move on that point. But I have to really mention, I hope you acknowledge the fact that transparency, communication from Renault in the past few years and as it is today, is really dramatically improving, if I may say so. And I can assess that from my point of view as chairman of the board. I mean, it's incredible transparency. Actually, we're telling you everything, you know, all our joys, our pains, etc. You've got everything. And I think on the half-year basis, results is the good pace. By the way, on the quarterly basis, you have all the comments on sales and all the rest, commercial performance, etc., which I think helps you to understand what's going on in this company. Sorry to disappoint you on this last question, but you should feel comfortable with the way these companies are being transparent with the market.

And maybe to complement regarding transparency, My personal experience is that the more you face uncertain, complex, disruptive environment, the more you have to be transparent with your stakeholders. Of course, employees, but also partners. I refer to the suppliers. So it's why, no worry, we'll continue to be better than average and better than peers for transparency also to financial markets and our shareholders.

Thank you, François. Thank you. This concludes our H1 results presentation. We are very happy to be with you this morning. As usual, the team is fully available to answer all your questions, and we'll be more than happy with Francois, Duncan, and the team to meet you today and in the coming days. Happy summer to all of you.