What are the main issues facing new Renault CEO Provost?
Renault CEO Francois Provost
will take the helm of the French automaker at a time when it is beginning to show cracks in its recent success, revising down its full year profit forecast earlier this month due to weaker sales volumes.
Below are some of the challenges ahead for Provost when he takes over on Thursday:
Tougher competition
While
Renault
has been largely protected from U.S. tariffs because it does not sell in the United States, it has been indirectly hit by increased commercial pressure as European competitors looking for new markets outside the U.S. step up efforts to sell in the French firm's home region.
The company reported zero growth in second quarter sales volumes, and warned of weak sales performance in June.
It is also facing rising competition from Chinese entrants, both in electric vehicles and hybrids.
Analysts at Barclays say Renault may have seen slower price-mix momentum in the first half of the year. The company is scheduled to report full results for the first half on Thursday.
Dependency on Europe and cars
With
sluggish growth
in Europe where Renault sells more than 70% of its cars, it needs to expand in emerging markets. It has already outlined plans to invest 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) to launch eight new models under the Renault brand for non-European markets by 2027.
It will also target developing less cyclical businesses beyond autos, such as EV charging and financial services, as part of a mid-term strategy which former
CEO Luca de Meo
had aimed to unveil later this year.
Too small, less independent
Conscious that its small size does not allow it to fund the development of electrified and autonomous vehicles, Renault has set up numerous partnerships, including with China's Geely in Korea and in combustion and hybrid engines around the world, and with
Volvo Group
in electric vans.
However, this strategy has raised concerns among unions that the company could lose its in-house know-how and its independence. Renault, ranking only 15th in volumes globally, is frequently the subject of rumours of a tie-up with larger peer Stellantis.
Partnerships with Geely also have some worried about potential leverage by China, though Renault's main shareholder, the French state, says the tie-ups do not compromise the company's ability to remain independent.
A high place of launches
Under de Meo, Renault launched one of the biggest product renewals in its history, with a record 10 launches and two facelifts last year.
It is planning another seven launches and two facelifts in 2025, including of the Renault 4 and the Dacia Bigster, and eight more in 2026, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Key to increasing market share, new launches also require significant investment in marketing and industrial fine-tuning to deliver cars on time, at the right quality.
Van hoes
A leader in Europe's high profit commercial vehicles market, Renault's van sales plunged by 29% in the first half due to a softer economy, and an overhaul of its models and product offering.
Getting back to investment grade
One of Renault's top priorities is to get its credit rating back to investment grade to attract new investors, while also boosting its market cap, currently only at 10 billion euros versus Stellantis' 23 billion euros.
Renault's debt is rated Ba1 by
Moody's
and BB+ by S&P Global, one notch below investment grade.
Nissan
Since starting to rebalance its partnership with Nissan in early 2023, Renault has done three share sales, and reduced its stake in its Japanese partner to 35.7% (17.05% held directly and 18.66% via a trust).
It will need to find the right time to sell more, made more challenging by Nissan's financial and operational difficulties.
It will also play a role in Nissan's overhaul, particularly if the Japanese company decides to sign a strategic partnership with another manufacturer. Renault opposed recent plans for a tie-up with Honda because it considered the financial terms were not generous enough.
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Time of India
9 minutes ago
- Time of India
No passports, no study abroad: China limits public employees' travel
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads When Tina Liu was hired to teach literature in a public elementary school in southern China, her contract included the usual warnings about absenteeism and job came another line: Traveling abroad without the school's permission could get her rule was reinforced in a staff group chat. "According to regulations from higher-ups, teachers need to strengthen their disciplinary awareness," the message said. "We will currently not permit any overseas vacations."Across China, similar warnings are spreading as authorities tighten control over state employees' contacts with foreigners. Some kindergarten teachers, doctors and even government contractors and employees of state-owned enterprises have been ordered to hand in their passports. Some cities make retirees wait two years to reclaim their many cities, travel overseas by public employees, even for personal reasons, requires approval. Business trips abroad for "ordinary research, exchange and study" have been banned. And in most provinces, those who have studied abroad are now disqualified from certain public cite various reasons, including protecting national security, fighting corruption and cutting costs. But the scope of the restrictions has expanded rapidly, sweeping up employees who say they have no access to sensitive information or government funds. The New York Times spoke to seven public employees, including an elementary school music teacher, a nurse and a literature professor, who confirmed the rules are part of a push by the central authorities to impose greater so-called political discipline and ideological loyalty on government workers. Two of the people the Times spoke to said they were also ordered to disclose their personal social media accounts to their employers. Another person said she had to notify her employer if she left the city where she worked. Some local governments have banned civil servants from eating out in groups of more than three, measures that came after several reports of excessive drinking at official authorities are especially vigilant about overseas contact. The Chinese government has long been wary of the threat of espionage and what it sees as hostile foreign forces seeking to sow discontent. In July, People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's mouthpiece, published an article declaring that people-to-people diplomacy "exists because of the party" and should be led by the result is that even as Beijing advertises itself as eager to attract foreign businesses and tourists, it is preventing many of its own people from leaving."On the one hand, you want foreigners to come to China. You advertise Chinese culture and hope they'll boost the economy," said Liu, who is in her 20s. "But on the other hand, why are you trapping us here, rather than letting us see more of the world?"Travel restrictions for some state employees are not new. Since 2003, high-ranking officials or those handling state secrets must report foreign travel in advance. Their names are given to border officials to prevent unauthorized under Xi Jinping, China's most powerful leader in decades, the controls have extended to far lower-level officials at six fishing villages near the city of Zhoushan, in coastal Zhejiang province, were told to surrender their documents, a local government notice shows. In a city in Jiangxi province, a public health agency also told employees to report any overseas trips they'd taken since 2018.A music teacher at an elementary school in central Hebei province said that she had applied to go to Malaysia this summer because her sister would be studying abroad there. Her school principal refused the request, said the teacher, who gave only her surname, Wang, for fear of retaliation.A nurse at a hospital in Zhejiang said she would need four layers of approvals to travel abroad. The nurse, who also asked to be identified only by her surname, Zhu, for fear of retaliation, said she had not applied, even though she had long dreamed of visiting Vietnam. The restrictions, she said, seemed to show a fear that even ordinary workers might flee with sensitive information or illicit funds -- an idea she scoffed at."If there are any secrets, would people like us know about them?" she said. "What money do we have to abscond with?"Those who are allowed to travel abroad are sometimes required to pledge not to endanger national security or speak ill of China while Inner Mongolia University of Technology told employees not to accept any media interviews or to meet with any "outside parties" while abroad, without authorization. Encounters with "anti-China forces" should be reported to Chinese embassies, the university to hand in one's passport within a week of returning could lead to a five-year travel restrictions are also creeping into hiring. For new graduates hoping to join China's civil service, some of the most coveted positions are in the program known as "xuandiaosheng," which loosely translates as "selected students." Those students, who are recruited from top universities, are put on a fast track to leadership province determines which schools it will recruit from, and many, including Guangdong in the south, used to include overseas universities. This year, Guangdong listed only Chinese universities; so did five other regions in the past year. Only Shanghai now explicitly accepts graduates of foreign universities for the elite province, in the northeast, went even further. Anyone who had lived overseas for more than six months, and whose "experience and political performance abroad" were hard to investigate, was deemed ineligible this departments in major cities have imposed similar rules. In Shanghai, even having a spouse or close relative who has moved abroad can disqualify a Liu, a professor at City University of Hong Kong who studies China's civil service, said that many of the restrictions most likely did not stem from a clear central mandate. But as the central government's scrutiny of midlevel officials has grown, those midlevel officials were probably trying to avoid any possible sources of trouble."Because of U.S.-China relations, because of the competition, I think it's fair to say that Chinese society in general has become more sensitive to foreign countries," Liu said. For policymakers, that makes "everything related to foreign countries risky," he Chinese government still wants to broadcast an image of openness, and would prefer to keep its inward turn more quiet, said Wu Qiang, an independent political analyst in Beijing. Although some local governments have published their passport regulations online, many interviewees said they were told only of the restrictions appears to be uneven. Zhu said nurses at other hospitals in her city still had their passports, for government employees are not the only ones being scrutinized for overseas ties. China's state security agency has repeatedly warned ordinary citizens about the dangers of traveling overseas, or to look out for foreigners who might be Mingzhu, chair of Gree Electric, a major Chinese appliance manufacturer, said this year that she would avoid hiring people who returned from overseas, because they might be declaration drew widespread criticism from social media users who said it promoted discrimination and would harm China's global competitiveness. Even People's Daily ran an opinion piece defending overseas while ordinary Chinese might complain about restrictions on their freedoms, government employees are unlikely to put up much resistance, said Liu, in Hong the government workers the Times spoke to all said they would not quit over having their passports the nurse in Zhejiang, said her stable salary of about $27,000 a year -- much more than the average in her city -- was worth the "emotional value" she was being denied. 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Time of India
39 minutes ago
- Time of India
CK Hutchison's Panama Port subsidiary seeks legal protection amid contract dispute
Advt Advt Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals. Subscribe to Newsletter to get latest insights & analysis in your inbox. Get updates on your preferred social platform Follow us for the latest news, insider access to events and more. A subsidiary of a Hong Kong conglomerate entangled in US-China tensions appealed on Friday for legal protection for businesses in Panama after the company's contract over its Panama Canal port assets has been faced with lawsuits in the Central American for the rule of law is essential to assure businesses that Panama is a safe place to invest in, Panama Ports Company , under Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings , said in a Comptroller General filed two lawsuits on Wednesday, seeking to declare unconstitutional a contract that granted the operation of ports at both ends of the canal to the Hong Kong subsidiary, and to nullify its renewal four years ago, saying it was "abusive" of Panama's turn, Panama Ports Company said its operations have had a positive impact, from building world-class ports to creating more than 25,000 direct and indirect jobs and contributing billions of balboas - Panama's currency - to the country's said it wants to work with the government in Panama for a better future."Regarding the ongoing legal actions, we firmly believe that respect for legal protection and the rule of law are essential in order to provide businesses and investors with the certainty that Panama is a safe country to invest in," it company operates the ports of Balboa, in the Pacific, and Cristobal, in the Atlantic, under a concession contract approved in 1997 and renewed in 2021 for 25 more years. CK Hutchison is controlled by the family of Li Ka-shing , the southern Chinese city's richest comptroller authority in April said that an audit of Panama Ports Company found irregularities in the renewal of the concession. But the company denied allegations that it had failed to pay about $1.2 billion to the Central American President Jose Raul Mulino said during his weekly news conference on Thursday that he fully supported the comptroller's case and would await the court's verdict."We have all seen what that contract has costed the Panamanian nation over time," Mulino said without elaborating. He alluded to some sort of public-private partnership for the ports, saying there was a lot of interest from private companies, but that it was in the early stages and provided no Hutchison Holdings' initial plan, announced in March, to sell its port assets in dozens of countries to a group that includes the US investment firm BlackRock Inc., also got caught up in tensions between Beijing and President Donald Trump, who has alleged that China interferes with the canal, initially welcomed that plan. However, it apparently angered Beijing and drew a review by Chinese anti-monopoly months of uncertainty, Hutchison said on Monday that it may seek a Chinese investor to join a consortium of buyers, which also includes BlackRock subsidiary Global Infrastructure Partners and Terminal Investment Limited, a subsidiary of the Mediterranean Shipping initial deal, valued at nearly $23 billion, including $5 billion in debt, would have given the consortium control over 43 ports in 23 countries, including the two at the Panama Ports Company said Friday it would communicate with the Panamanian government "at the appropriate time," affirming that it believes engaging with the government "is vital to discuss the way forward for" the government maintains it has full control over the canal and that the operation of the ports by Hutchison does not mean Chinese control of it.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Decathlon India eyes nearly $1 bn sales in next 5 years with double-digit growth
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Popular in Services 1. Decathlon India eyes nearly $1 bn sales in next 5 years with double-digit growth Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads French sports goods retailer Decathlon plans to reach nearly a billion-dollar sales in the Indian sports market over the next five years, helped by the expansion of its retail channels and product portfolio and growing sports culture in the country, its India Chief Executive Officer Sankar Chatterjee has which currently operates 132 stores in 55 cities across India, plans to expand its retail footprint to over 90 cities by 2030 and plans to register a revenue of around Rs 8,000 crore by then."We are looking towards a double-digit growth in terms of our revenue year by year. After having a double-digit growth for the next five years, we believe that we will be able to get a significant market share in the sports market in India ," Chatterjee FY24, Decathlon Sports India Pvt Ltd reported its revenue from operations at Rs 4,008.26 crore and returned to asked whether Decathlon Sports India aspires to be billion billion-dollar company in the next four to five years, the chief executive said: "That's our target"."In the next five years, we will be looking towards a number (revenue) which is a little more than Rs 7,500 crore and 8,000 crore," he that the current market condition is very agile, he said Decathlon has started navigating for the very long run in the country."But at the same time, we are looking towards a consistent double-digit growth in the Indian segment in the next five years, which will help us to reach a significant number, and take more market share in the sports segment for India," he to Chatterjee, Decathlon has "big plans for India", where it has increased local sourcing to 70 per cent, intending to step it further to 90 per cent by 2030."India is an important country for Decathlon, we are looking towards a double-digit growth year by year, over the next five years, and at the same time, we are scaling with 10 to 15 stores in a year," he as per its retail growth strategy, it is not only focusing majorly on metropolitan cities, especially the top seven, but also entering into smaller tier II and III cities, which have a good sports company has opened stores in small places as Prayagraj (UP), Kolhapur (Maharashtra), Solan (Himachal Pradesh), Udaipur (Rajasthan), besides in metro cities like Phoenix Marketcity in Kurla, Mumbai and Pondy Bazaar, Chennai."So, we are looking towards opening in different cities, also concentrating on existing cities and scale up," he said, adding that "we are opening more stores, penetrating more with digital at the same time, opening new geography".Decathlon is focusing on places where sports awareness is high, such as Panipat in Haryana and Chandigarh, where it has opened stores. Besides, it is also planning to open more stores in the Northeast region."We believe that the top 50 cities of India have a real potential for sports, where the government wants to penetrate, and we have quite a lot of success in those new geographies," he Decathlon is also looking at the omnichannel system, strategically integrating its online platforms and offline retail asked about the growth of online and brick and mortar channels, he said Decathlon expects a right share of growth by each channel to take more market the expansion of the product portfolio, he said, now in India, the company is witnessing an increase in the expertise level of products in many sports."It could be Mountain Sports, it could be sports of running. It could be racket sports like pickleball, which is picking up very well," said to make its products more affordable, Decathlon has also started a circular business model in the country, where it is offering repair services, sale of refurbished products at its stores and buyback of used equipment."Second Life (resale), buyback and also selling those products, we have a very good response," he said, adding that "today, we have a limited typology of the products, but it could be expanded in a much bigger way in terms of usage for circularity".The company entered India by starting production in 1999 and retail operations in the country in 2009.
