1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164 
Dunstable at risk RV1
Page 15
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Renault Vehicules Industriels offset major losses in both the UK and US markets with a "very strong performance" on the Continent last year says Jean Pierre Capron, chairman and chief executive of RVI.
Capron confirms that Renault Truck Industries lost £7m last year. RVI's 45% share in Mack Trucks also hit profitability as Mack lost $185m. Despite the bad results in these two key markets the 7.7% increase in turnover and a 10% profit by its European operations allowed the group "to post results roughly equivalent to 1988".
Turnover was 34.2 billion French Francs (23.8 billion) — an increase of 1.27% — with the European branch contributing 23,2 billion fr (2.57 billion) of the total. Profits fell 9% from 1 billion fr (111m) in 1988 to 930m fr (2103.3m) last year.
RV1's net debts fell from 5.2 billion fr (£577m) to 4.4 billion fr (2489m) — worth about 14% of turnover.
Capron is clearly worried about Renault's results in Britain. We have set a number of precise objectives for the year," he says. "If they are not met we will have to ask some very fundamental questions about the durability of the plant at Dunstable. We have already cut the industrial workforce at Dunstable in half to 300," he says. "If improvements are not made we won't be cutting another 100 or so — its 300 or zero."
According to Capron the recently-signed agreement with Volvo Truck corporation could also help the situation at Dunstable: Volvo faces production capacity problems in Britain which could be eased by shifting some parts production to Dunstable.