Shares in French car giant Renault slumped as much as 17% on Wednesday after the company lowered its 2025 guidance due to weaker-than-expected sales volumes in June and a challenging European market. It also named a new interim chief executive to succeed Luca de Meo.
The company announced late on Tuesday that it now aims to achieve a full-year operating margin of 6.5%, below its previous target of at least 7%.
It also warned on its free cash flow, which in the first half came to just 47 million euros ($54.49 million), hit by a negative working capital requirement of around 900 million euros due to delayed billings and a decline in the European passenger car and van market.
Shares were down 15.5% at 7:53 a.m. GMT to 34.80 euros, on track for their worst day since March 2020, after earlier falling as much as 17%.
Renault said it would step up cost-cutting measures to improve margins in the second half, but some analysts said longer-term market pressure could continue.
"We foresee longer-term market pressure playing out beyond June. Most of the European carmakers released a new lineup of affordable electric vehicles, increasing competition," said analysts at Morningstar.
They said this raised concerns about leadership uncertainty in a volatile market.
Renault named finance chief Duncan Minto as interim CEO on Tuesday and stated that the process for naming a permanent CEO was "well underway," but provided no update on the timing.
