Renault says net profit fell 78 pct in 2008
French carmaker Renault on Thursday announced a 78 per cent drop in net profits for 2008 to 599 million euros (774 million dollars) as demand for new cars dried up.
Renault said it had made a full-year operating loss of 117 million euros, compared with a profit of 1.24 billion euros a year before.
The group said its priority for 2009 was to produce positive cash flow by reducing costly inventories, pulling back on investment and continuing to force down fixed costs.
Trending Cars
It gave no financial forecasts for the year.
Full-year revenue fell 7.0 per cent in 2008 to 37.79 billion euros after plunging 29 per cent in the last quarter alone as sales dried up.
Net debt of the automobile division surged by 5.2 billion euros over the 12 months through December to 7.94 billion euros.