PARIS (Reuters) – Renault announced Tuesday that it would accuse a net loss estimated at 9.5 billion euros on its participation in Nissan in the first half, after having changed the way in which he had been counting for decades the actions held in his Japanese partner.

This change, in application of IFRS accounting standards, comes when the two groups have been relaxed several times for two years their alliance forged for twenty years earlier, with a rebalancing of their cross -participations and a refocusing of the partnership on some industrial projects.

“As of June 30, 2025, Renault Group will modify the mode of accounting for its participation in Nissan (which) will now constitute a financial asset evaluated at fair value,” the group said in a press release.

“The implementation of this new accounting treatment (…) will result in recognition of an estimated loss of 9.5 billion euros, which will be recorded in the income statement, mainly in ‘other products and operating expenses'”.

The Renault action opened down 1% before returning to the green and winning 0.3% around 11:30 am.

“This adjustment, although magnitude, will have no impact on the calculation of Renault’s dividend”, comment on Oddo analysts in a note. “More generally, this adjustment improves transparency and aligns with the rebalancing of the capital relationship between Renault and Nissan.”

No impact on the expectations

The French car manufacturer, which to date has 35.71% of its Japanese partner, including 17.05% live and the rest in trust, also said that this loss would not have an impact on its cash or on its forecasts of results.

Currently looking for a new managing director to replace Luca de Meo leaving for Kering, Renault was one of the few car manufacturers not to warn last year on his forecasts. For 2025, it targets operating margin of the group greater than or equal to 7% and a free cash flow greater than or equal to two billion euros.

The group also specified that thanks to this accounting change, any future variation in the fair value of participation in Nissan, estimated on the basis of the Japanese group’s stock market, will be directly counted in equity and will therefore no longer have an impact on Renault’s net profit.

Nissan, who has initiated a drastic restructuring in the face of the important commercial and financial difficulties he encounters, has seen his stock market drop by almost 30% since the start of the year, adding to a drop of approximately 15% in 2024.

So far, Nissan has always contributed – positively or negatively – to the results of his French partner, which will no longer be the case now either.

The Nissan action lost 2.4% at 341.8 yen (2.02 euros) after the announcement of Renault, below the 400 yen to which Renault had valued the title when it had increased its participation in Nissan in 2002, and below the value carried by the investment in Renault accounts, or 1,549 yen per share according to a calculation carried out from the universal recording document for 2024.

Nissan, who has never completely recovered from the crisis caused by the arrest of his former President Carlos Ghosn, was struck harder than the others by the challenges linked to the electrification of vehicles.

Faced with a reduction in sales, especially in two key markets – United States and China – as well as an aging range, the group accused a net loss of $ 4.5 billion in the past financial year and preferred not to communicate a forecast for the current exercise.

(Report Gilles Guillaume, with Dominique Patton, Miyoung Kim in Singapore, edited by Augustin Turpin)

Copyright © 2025 Thomson Reuters