Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Renault Group H1 Results. This presentation will be made by Luca de Meo, CEO, Thierry Piéton, CFO, and the management team of Renault Group. Luca, the floor is yours.
Hi, H1 results. And also, it will be an opportunity for us to update you with the in-depth transformation that we keep developing in this company. In the first semester of 2024, Renault Group achieved 8.1% operating margin. This is actually the highest operating margin this company has ever achieved. We generated EUR 1.3 billion of free cash flow, and we reach a very strong net financial position at almost EUR 5 billion. I want to take the opportunity to thank all those who are supporting us and have supported us also in challenging times: our employees, of course, our clients, our distribution partners, our suppliers, and of course, our shareholders and investors. These results confirm the, the, I would say, constantly improving operational performance of Renault.
This is the consequence of the passionate job done by women and men of this company for almost four years now, in depth, at every level of the organization, to put it back at the highest standards in the automotive industry. EUR 2.7 billion of cash, fixed cost reduction since the first half of 2019, over 90% utilization rate of our industrial footprint, and a strict commercial policy focused on value. All this allowed us to reduce our breakeven point by 50% since 2020, and is reflected in our H1 results. These ingredients are going to support the financial profitability of our all-new lineup that is just beginning its ramp up in Europe and also globally. In H1, less than 5% of our invoices came from vehicle launched in 2024.
It gives you an idea of what we have in the store. For us, putting Renault back at the top of the classical game that OEMs have been playing for 150 years was only the appetizer. We know that when it comes to the main course, the good old recipes are not going to be enough. Everything is moving incredibly fast, and crises turn out to be the new normal. So car makers need something more, and they need something new. This is why we're working to transform Renault Group into one of the most progressive European companies, setting up a new breed of organization designed for an environment that has turned radically volatile and unpredictable tech landscape.
It means something very simple: putting flexibility, strategic agility, and speed at the core of our model, injecting this mindset at every level of the organization. Probably, no other OEM, and we approve that, can pretend today to be so flexible as Renault Group when it comes to absorbing the shocks on the bumpy roads toward, for example, the all-electric mobility. On the EV side, we have Ampere, our EV and software champion. It's on track to cut its cost by 40% and to reduce prices while improving its margins. Every day, we measure the benefits of having a dedicated entity. On the ICE side, we have HORSE, with highly cash-generating businesses, Renault and Dacia ICE and hybrid cars, as well as our LCV business.
On top of making money, this team works as a safety net for the group in front of the unevenness of the EV shift. It is supported by HORSE, the global ICE and hybrid powertrain leader that we have set up with Geely and Aramco. HORSE is not only a supplier for Renault Group and Geely, it's a platform for the entire auto industry. It has the mission to reinvent the ICE technology and our core business to give it a future. Concretely, this means developing smart hybridization, but also alternatives of, why not, renewable fuels, developing innovative, low-emission ICE and hybrid vehicles. Aramco's joining has given new evidence that, setting up, had been, I would say, the right move, establishing the value of the thing at EUR 7.4 billion. I know that many supplier competitors are looking at this figure.
Maybe this is also the reason why we receive so much interest from partners. On top, HORSE also allows us to gain in productivity, reduce fixed cost, gain scale. We improve our balance sheet significantly and keep a substantial stake in a growing and cash-generating business. The open e- ecosystemic approach that we have put at the core of our game plays a key role to boost the strategic agility of Renault Group. Since the start of the Renaulution, we have struck over 20 strategic partnership with the best players on all the new automotive value chains, from Google and Qualcomm to AESC, Verkor, LG, CATL for the batteries, to STMicroelectronics for power electronics.
We go open because pretending to keep cultivating alone your small piece of land when all the boundaries are falling around you, just makes no sense, especially when you have to deal w ith the challenges that cut across the sectors, like the energy transition or the digital revolution. On the contrary, this ecosystemic approach allows us to smartly address the new automotive value chains, including businesses with margin that are higher than in our traditional activity, while nurturing innovation by exposing our people to the best in every sector, boosting our ability to switch quickly to a new technology, for example, when it comes to batteries, accelerating our time to market, sharing the risk and the investments. All of this ensures efficient capital allocation. We achieved 28.5 ROCE in 2023, while we started from zero in 2021.
Now, I will leave it to a person very important in the organization that you rarely see. This is François Provost, our Procurement and Partnerships and Public Affairs VP, and François is going to tell you about what he has been doing for two years to strengthen our value chain. François?
Thank you. Thank you, Luca. Over the last two years, we have reshuffled our relationship with our suppliers. We are pivoting from a pretty transactional and short-term to a more strategic approach. Considering our suppliers like business partners, boost agility, speed, and innovation of our entire ecosystem. We have already seen the power of this approach against inflation. Assuming transparency on costs, we accepted to take into account inflation triggers together with a roadmap to offset cost increase within a reasonable timeframe. As an example, as Renault Group, we already reduced by over 25% the energy consumption per unit, and we expect our suppliers to do the same.
In fact, we are onboarding our whole ecosystem in our struggle against inflation, and we have started in H1 2024 to bring down the cost of our cars again by several hundreds of EUR, not accounting for the regulatory impacts. Besides, we are increasing our control on our value chains. As a traditional OEM, we used to buy parts and system to Tier 1 supplier. Now, we go to Tier N, and we aim to develop, when it makes sense, parts and system by ourselves. The best example is software. In the past, we used to buy software system within Black Box. Now, we want to develop partially by ourselves, to co-develop with Tier 1, but also to co-develop directly with tech companies such as Google and Qualcomm.
As another example, we can also point out the strategic partnership and contracts signed with our electronic components producers, as well as contracts with raw material producers to secure battery supplies. We are also looking at all options to increase the speed of execution. It means involving our suppliers much earlier in sourcing phase. For instance, we are reducing our detailed technical specification, relying more on creativity of suppliers to propose optimized solution in terms of value and cost, including off-the-shelf solutions. This is a key lever to develop cars within two years and to reduce cost, and the New Twingo is, for us, a kind of proof of concept we can develop European cars within two years. Another example is to move from traditional one-size-fits-all processes to tailor-made solutions for each entities of the group, like Ampere or HORSE.
We do not manage EV and software technologies for Ampere the same way we supply traditional technologies, such as seats or chassis. Within 1.5 years, we already reviewed our supplier panels for over 70% of our purchase amounts, and we engaged with key suppliers, joint strategic and technological roadmap, reviewed on a quarterly basis. Thank you for your listening, and I give back the floor to Luca.
Thanks, François. So, as François said, we go deeper and faster, and actually, we're not stopping there. We're putting our focus on two topics that are kind of linked. One is speed, and the other one is AI. So when it comes to speed, we have launched the Speed of Lightness program. It means doubling the speed of around 10 key processes in the company and sparing 30% of their cost. This is already happening. So as François said, the New Twingo that we'll produce be produced in Slovenia will be developed in two years, while this kind of thing traditionally took three or four years or even more in the past. We do that thanks to a series of breakthroughs all along the process.
For example, we reduced the development phase by 40% and the industrial phase by 30%. We dramatically reduced diversity and complexity. When it comes to diversity, we have already reduced it by over 40% on our car lineup, as you know, and we shoot for more. In 2019, our cars had an average 2.2, 2,200 parts on average. In the New Twingo, we'll have 750, just to give you an idea. We push for systematic reuse of on-the-shelf and off-cycle parts. Before the revolution, our carryover, carry across never exceeded 50%, and now we achieved up to 80%. We anticipate by 15 weeks the design convergence, thanks to early suppliers' involvement and common development with engineering and styling, and of course, suppliers.
All of this leads to a 30% entry ticket reduction between, for example, the Renault 5, which is already a new generation product, and the Twingo. In all this story, we owe a lot to Gilles Le Borgne, as you know. Gilles is stepping back from his position as Renault Group CTO, and I didn't want to miss the occasion to pay him a tribute that he deserves after all what he has done for this company and the stunning result he has achieved. So thank you for all, Gilles. Thank you. And now, good luck, of course, to Philippe Krief, who takes up the torch. Philippe is another top engineer with 35 years of experience in the industry, ranging from volume brands like Fiat to luxury brands, or lately in Ferrari. So He knows what a car is all about.
So let's now move to what is the new frontier of Renault Group: artificial intelligence. Our ambition is to make Renault Group the first AI-powered automobile manufacturer. We don't do AI for the show; we do it to impact the core processes. AI at Renault means augmented intelligence. It's like when you put a turbine to a Formula One engine, which we did in, you know, way back in 1978 for the first time. So it's an accelerator. So we are developing first through strategic partners 6 digital platforms since 4 years now to manage the company major processes from development to manufacturing to aftersales to customer experience to support function. We are connecting them all together to harmonize data and circulate it seamlessly throughout the group. Improve the speed, of course, of decision-making, productivity, simplicity, transparency.
We break silos and have all the data about everything this company is doing and about its environment, converge actually into one data lake. This is very important because this is the bedrock on which you can build the enabler, you can build a digital twin of the company, and we are already well on the way. By 2026, almost 100% of Renault Group will be in the cloud. This is, in fact, the condition to make seriously AI a structural technology for the business. I can tell you that no other OEM is as advanced as we are when it comes to this stuff. At the level of our industrial, let's say, of our industrial metaverse alone, for example, we are collecting and analyzing 3 billion data every day, thanks to over 15,000 robots and connected machines.
All this opens a huge field of opportunities for Renault Group when it comes to leveraging the AI revolution, because AI is nothing if you don't have well-structured data. On this side, Renault, I have to say, has done its homework. And don't think AI is, for us, the usual kind of a magic buzzword. We already have 20 macro use cases validated at the group level and that are already generating value. AI is already transforming Renault across all our value chain, from development, for example, with AI automatically generating code and increasing our developers' productivity by 10%-15%, to industrial operation, notably with predictive maintenance that allows us to repair the machines at the most convenient moment to prevent operation interruptions and to contribute, for example, with more than EUR 400 million savings in 2023 and 2024.
To logistics, for example, when we optimize in real time our trucks filling and routes, enabling us to use 8,000 less trucks and to avoid 21,000 tons of CO2. To customer experience, when AI digs into all the company's document to draft answers to our people, that can, they can check and then customize, reducing issue resolution time. AI will be on the product also, transforming into intelligent evolution in an hyper-connected vehicle. Our mantra is to humanize techs thanks to AI, hyper-personalizing our cars, having them learn every day from their users, evolving with them to better accompany them. Reno, the avatar of Renault 5, symbolizes this approach.
It's a small character with a generative AI that talks about a wide range of subjects, explains the car's reaction, and offers new services, and will offer more in the future. To give you just one more example of how AI is already turning the tables, we have managed to accelerate the aerodynamics testing process of our cars from 15 hours to 10 minutes, thanks to AI-powered simulation using the data of the previous vehicle simulation. This solution allows us to make 6 times more loops than before. Today, this is a presentation of our half year results, so the idea is not to be comprehensive, but I think we'll have time to dig into this topic in the months to come together. This team is on its way to transform Renault into the most progressive European OEM.
We're getting faster, more agile, and better every day... and I can guarantee you that we're not going to stop here. And also, our dear CFO, Thierry Piéton, is getting better every day, and I am going to give him the floor to present our financial.
Like good French wine. Thank you, Luca, and good morning to all. Once more, I'm very pleased to comment today our half-year results, which, as Luca has already mentioned, reach record levels of profitability. Let's start with the group revenue. It was pretty stable compared to H1 2023, at EUR 27 billion. At constant exchange rates, it was up 3.7%. Automotive revenue stood at EUR 24.4 billion, down 1.9%. At constant exchange rates, it increased by 1.2 points. The Mobility Services contribution amounted to EUR 31 million, up EUR 10 million compared to last year.
Last but not least, Mobilize Financial Services revenue increased by 29.2% to EUR 2.6 billion, mainly driven by higher interest rates, the increase in average ticket per vehicle, and higher average performing assets. Let's drill down into the automotive revenue. It included 3.1 points of negative exchange rates, mainly related to the Argentine peso and, to a lesser extent, the Turkish lira devaluations. At constant exchange rates, it increased by 1.2%, as previously mentioned. Volume effect was -4.7 points in the semester, following the same trend as in Q1: higher registrations, but tight distribution inventory management. So I'll take you through each part. Registrations increased by 1.9% at 1,155,000 units at group level, despite a high comparison basis.
In Europe, Renault Group consolidated its third position, outperforming the market, with sales up 6.7%. Each of our three brands, Renault, Dacia, and Alpine, contributed to this growth. Renault brand was once again the best-selling French car brand in the world and continued its progression, with global sales up 2%. It recorded a strong 8.2% increase in Europe, outperforming the market by 2.7 points. Renault brand remains on the podium of passenger cars in LCV market and number one in France. On passenger cars, the sales figures were boosted by the very strong performance of hybrid cars, with a 45% increase year on year. The brand is now ranked number two in hybrid market, with a 17% market share. Renault pursues its conquest on the C and above segments.
It's now mainly driven by Rafale and Espace, which have been added to Arkana and Austral, and pending the imminent arrival of Symbioz. By the way, on these models, we continue to experience very favorable trim mix. On LCVs, Renault brand enjoyed an impressive growth of 19.2% in a market up 13%, thanks to the successes of Kangoo, Express, and Master, all leaders in their segments, while Trafic now ranks number 3. Renault confirmed its first place in the European LCV market, excluding pickups. In H1, Renault started to roll out its products offensive in the overseas markets. Following the launch of the Renault brand in Korea last April, Renault has just revealed Grand Koleos in the Busan International Motor Show. This vehicle will be commercialized this autumn. In Brazil, we just launched Kardian.
The car will also be launched in other Latin American markets and in Morocco in the second half of 2024. This offensive will continue in H2 with the launch of Renault Duster. Dacia sales were up 3.8% worldwide. In Europe, Dacia confirmed its place on the podium of the PC retail market, thanks to its four pillar models, unique business model, and its strong brand identity. As illustrated during the Dacia Days, organized a few weeks ago, Dacia truly stands out with a very high new customer conquest and loyalty rates. Sandero is the best-selling vehicle to retail since 2017 and the best-selling model in Europe across all customer channels in H1. Dacia Duster maintained its position on the podium of SUV retail sales in Europe.
It includes Duster's second generation and the third generation, which arrived lately during Q2 and which is off to a very good start. There's more to come. New Spring will arrive in the showrooms in the summer. In H2, Dacia will present Bigster, its future C-segment SUV, to be launched in H1 of 2025. Switching gears to Alpine, Alpine continued its double-digit growth after three years of consecutive progression, with 2,700 units sold. It delivered a 47% volume increase versus last year, benefiting from the very strong success of the A110 R and S models in particular. In June, Alpine began its electric offensive with the reveal of A290, the brand's sporty electric five-seater hot hatch. Orders are scheduled to open this summer for first deliveries towards the end of the year. Fingers crossed one of them will be for me.
All in all, Renault Group continues its commercial policy focused on value. First, retail channel represented 62% of passenger cars group sales, almost 20 points above the European market average. Second, top-of-the-range versions represented a significant share of our mix. Finally, our electrified sales at group level represented nearly 30% of our European PC sales, up 4.3 points compared to last year, thanks to a 60% increase in HEV sales. As mentioned previously, Renault Group continued to proactively manage distribution inventory. The 1.9% growth in registrations was more than offset by the evolution of inventories. While there was a stock increase in the dealership network of 69K units in the first half of 2023, in H1 2024, we recorded a 6K unit stock decrease.
At the end of June, total inventories represented 500,000 vehicles, which is a very healthy level, and this level continues to be fully supported by a strong order intake, fueling a very sound order book, which stood at 2.6 months of forward sales. The sales to partners effect was positive 0.2 points. New vehicle sales to partners decreased in a transition year before the launch of new products, as anticipated. This was offset by R&D billings, in line with a ramp-up of the group's partnerships. As already mentioned, after several years of price increases, Renault Group has entered a phase of price stabilization. In H1, the 1.8 points of price effect was mostly related to the offset of currency devaluations, mainly in Argentina and Turkey.
The positive product mix of 1 point reflects a gradual improvement versus a muted effect over the last two quarters, driven by our recent launches, mainly Scenic, Rafale, and Duster. This trend will continue in the next quarters. The geographic mix impacted positively for 1.1 points, driven by higher relative contribution of Europe. To finish, the other bucket posted a positive 1.8 points, mainly thanks to the strong activity in parts and accessories, as well as used car sales. Now, let's switch to the operating margin analysis. This semester, again, we posted a record operating profit, delivering EUR 2.2 billion, up EUR 135 million versus last year. It represented 8.1% of revenue, up 0.5 points versus the first half of 2023.
The automotive segment operating margin also reached a record level at EUR 1.6 billion, or 6.6% of auto revenue, up 0.4 points. MFS's operating profit increased by EUR 75 million to reach EUR 593 million. This slide illustrates the huge work that was made by the team over the last years. We're continuing to progress on the group and automotive operating margins, both in percentage and in absolute value. Let's deep dive on the group's operating margin evolution. First, currencies impacted positively by EUR 93 million, reflecting mainly the positive impact of the Turkish lira on production costs. The negative volume impact is in line with the evolution of invoices of new vehicles and sales to partners, which I commented previously.
In H1 2024, price mix enrichment effect was positive EUR 51 million, and cost decreased by EUR 262 million. Together, these represented a positive impact of EUR 313 million. After two years of strong headwinds, costs have turned positive this semester, as François mentioned, mainly thanks to the strong purchasing performance of EUR 165 million and supported by a raw materials tailwind of EUR 117 million. As explained before, Renault Group is able to pass part of these gains to its customers while continuing to improve margins. We offer increasingly attractive vehicles in terms of price and content, while offsetting regulatory requirements, especially on new models and facelifts. For example, we were able to launch Clio Phase II, Captur Phase II, and Espace, cheaper than previous versions, but with improved margins.
R&D costs decreased by EUR 153 million. Higher R&D spend in H1 of about EUR 150 million, and the effect of lower capitalization rate were more than offset by lower amortization and R&D billings to our partners. The capitalization rate has decreased 6.2 points versus H1 of 2023 to 44.5%, mainly due to the non-capitalization of the R&D spend on the Software Defined Vehicle program. SG&A expenses were up EUR 109 million, mainly driven by higher marketing costs related to the brand's offensive and to the current performance of motorsport activities. The last bucket highlights the impact of HORSE deconsolidation. Since November of 2022, HORSE was under IFRS 5, assets held for sale, accounting treatment, and therefore, as you know, amortization of its assets had been suspended.
Since HORSE was deconsolidated on May 1st, 2024, invoices paid to HORSE by Renault Group include the cost of amortization again, as well as HORSE's make-up, markup. The cumulative effect of these two elements represented a EUR 55 million headwind for the month of June, which means that the 0.5 points improvement that you see here is actually 0.7 points on an apple-to-apple basis. As a reminder, the synergies generated by HORSE powertrain joint venture will more than offset HORSE's markup in the second year of operation. We'll actually pay for the engines less than when we were manufacturing them ourselves. I'll come back to the details of the impacts of HORSE just before the Q&A session. Mobilize Financial Services generated EUR 10.7 billion of new financing, up 2.5%, thanks to the growth in registrations.
On average, average-performing assets amounted to EUR 54.9 billion, up EUR 5 billion versus H1 of 2023, driven mainly by a strong commercial activity on the customer financing business since early 2023, following the end of the electronic component shortage, but of course, thanks to the success of our range. Net banking income as a percentage of average performing assets was stable. It's worth noting that in H1 2023, it was impacted by a negative swaps revaluation to the tune of EUR 37 million. This effect did not reoccur in H1 of 2024. Cost of risk at 0.41% remained broadly in line with the same period last year and with our historical levels. Operating costs in absolute value remained well contained and improved by 10 basis points as a percentage of average performing assets.
Overall, Mobilize Financial Services posted an operating profit of EUR 593 million, up EUR 75 million year-over-year. Moving to the items below are in the group P&L, below the operating margin line. Other operating income and expenses were negative EUR 277 million, and included the EUR 440 million capital loss on the Nissan shares disposal carried out in March 2024, and restructuring expenses for EUR 123 million. These effects were partially offset by a EUR 286 million capital gain on the deconsolidation, of course. The deterioration in our net financial expenses is entirely explained by the impact of hyperinflation in Argentina. Profit from associated companies at EUR 195 million, dropped EUR 371 million.
This is primarily driven by Nissan's contribution, which stood at EUR 264 million, compared to 582 posted in H1 2023. Current and deferred taxes represented a charge of EUR 328 million, compared to 278 million last year. The effective tax rate amounted to 17% at the end of June 2024, up 2 points versus last year, primarily due to the first year of implementation of Pillar Two and other deferred tax impacts. All in all, and including EUR 440 million of capital loss on the disposal of Nissan shares, net income reached EUR 1.4 billion. Now, let's switch to free cash flow. Renault Group generated EUR 1.3 billion of free cash flow in the first half of 2024.
Cash flow was EUR 3.1 billion, including a EUR 600 million dividend inflow from MFS, same as in H1 of 2023. Group CapEx and R&D rate, excluding the impact of assets disposals, amounted to 7.9% of revenue in H1, up 1 point year-on-year due to our product cycle, but it remains below 8% of revenue guidance. Assets disposals amounted only to EUR 28 million, compared to EUR 197 million in H1 of 2023. Change in working capital requirements was a headwind of EUR 209 million. Finally, a restructuring cash out amounted to EUR 167 million, compared to EUR 219 million in H1 of 2023. This free cash flow contributed to a significant improvement in our net cash financial position, which improved by EUR 1.1 billion and reached a record level of EUR 4.9 billion.
Never in Renault's history has this position been so favorable. Net financial investments and dividends paid include around EUR 200 million of investment in Flexis. Dividends paid to our shareholders strongly increased in 2024, at 1.85 EUR per share, representing EUR 540 million, while we benefited from EUR 142 million of dividends received from Nissan. The net debt, of HORSE, was deconsolidated for EUR 420 million. And to finish, the disposal of more than 99 million shares in March of Nissan represented an inflow of EUR 358 million.
With these two transactions on Nissan shares in December 2023 and March 2024, we've already sold 7.5% of our ownership for EUR 1.1 billion of cash, but decreased our stake by only 4.5% due to the dilution effect of the cancellation of the shares bought back by Nissan. This is not over. As already mentioned, we'll continue to monetize Nissan shares, which represents a potential cash of around EUR 3 billion at the current Nissan stock price. As you know, we can sell to Nissan or to any other investors. This future cash inflow will allow us to accelerate our deleveraging while developing our activities and returning cash to our shareholders. Until the effective disposal of those shares, Renault Group continues to receive Nissan's dividends.
I'll end the presentation with the liquidity of the automotive division, which stood at a very comfortable level of EUR 17.6 billion at the end of June 2024. Regarding our credit ratings, Moody's has upgraded, as you know, its outlook to positive in May. I confirm that returning to investment grade rating remains our first priority, and then to increase our payout ratio to 35% of net result group share. And with that, I'll hand over back to Luca for the financial outlook. Thank you.
Good. Thanks, Thierry. So when it comes to our financial outlook for 2024, we confirm that we will achieve at least a 7.5% operating margin and at least EUR 2.5 billion of free cash flow for this year. So if you exclude the impact of HORSE, we confirm an operating margin in H2 above H1. All in all, Renault Group continues therefore to improve its operational performance. We are fully concentrated on boosting the performance of the compact teams that we have set up. This new organization is already bearing fruit because it allows this team to be 100% focused on their respective discipline, shooting for excellence on each of the new automotive value chains.
And having compact teams allows us to spot more easily where the value is and how we can boost it, business by business, being sure that we do it with people doing that and nothing else. Speaking about value creation, we already see the results. With Ampere and Power, of course, with HORSE, Renault Group holds 45% of a business now with an enterprise value of EUR 7.4 billion in an activity that some saw as just a legacy. Alpine brand reaches EUR 700 million value, 14 times more than in 2019, and by setting a minority stake in Alpine Racing Limited to Otro Capital and RedBird, we have achieved to value this business more than EUR 800 million. Mobilize Financial Services has a book value of above EUR 6 billion, and on this solid asset, we build tomorrow's mobility.
So the key ingredients of Renault new secret sauce are clear: five focused businesses, a horizontal and ecosystemic approach, the strengthening of our supply chain, key process optimization, AI deployment at all levels and across all value chains. Flexibility, agility, and innovation continue to drive performance improvement and efficient capital allocation. And the most important, the most important is that Renault Group's people are fully committed to achieve this transformation. This is passion for this industry, fueling sustainable value for all our stakeholders. All this shows that Renault Group, I think, is on the right way. So have no doubt, focus, discipline, and execution will remain our keywords in the coming month. And now I'd like to open to your questions with, together with Thierry and the other member of the team.
Thank you, Luca. Before starting to open the Q&A session, we'll just do a short recap on all HORSE impacts to be sure that everyone understands them correctly. Thierry?
Yeah, thanks, thanks, Philippine. So, coming back to the impact of HORSE to make sure that we're absolutely clear. So as you know, there's two periods: before we deconsolidated HORSE and after. Before we deconsolidated, as you all know, it was treated as IFRS 5, and therefore, we stopped the amortization, right? This was bringing a benefit of roughly EUR 40 million per month. After the deconsolidation, we basically transact with HORSE as we would any other supplier, which means that we start paying the amortization again, and we pay a slight margin so that HORSE can fund itself. So if you look at the H1 numbers, you can see the 55 there that we had, which corresponds to the impact of one month of deconsolidation of HORSE.
The way to analyze that in a simple fashion is roughly EUR 40 million of amortization that we start paying again, and EUR 15 million of margin that we give to HORSE, okay? So if you look at H1 standalone, we got EUR 190 million of amortization tailwind in the first five months compared to as if we hadn't done HORSE, and we got a EUR 15 million headwind in the last month, corresponding to the fact that we pay a margin to HORSE. So net-net, it's EUR 175 million, okay? So, it's about a 0.6 points tailwind in H1, but a 0.2 points headwind on a year-over-year basis.
If you project yourself in the second half of the year, this 55 million headwind that we got in the last month, we're actually gonna have it over each one of the six months, right, of the second half. So on a standalone, on a year-over-year basis, it means six times 55 year-over-year. If you compare H2 to H1, it means five months with an incremental headwind of EUR 55 million, which means EUR 330 million. And if you take H2 standalone, so you compare H2 to what it is compared to if we hadn't done HORSE, it's 15 million times six, so about a EUR 90 million headwind, right? So, hopefully, that's clear.
I want to make sure, as well, that it's understood that, you know, despite, if you exclude the impact of HORSE, the margin rate in the second half will be better than in the first half. And I also want to let you know that in absolute value, the margin that we will generate in the second half will be better than in the first half, regardless of the impact of HORSE. Which means that you can count on an H2 performance, which continues to improve in absolute value versus H1, regardless of, the consolidation treatment, of course. Two, quick, last items.
So below the line, in operating profit, we generated around EUR 290 million of profit from basically replacing the assets that we owned in the Renault portion of HORSE by the 50% stake that we now own in the consolidated entity. So that's EUR 290 million between operating profit and net income. And the final impact that you saw in the bridge to the net financial position is, HORSE actually had net debt to the tune of EUR 420 million. We deconsolidated that, so it helped us reach the EUR 4.9 billion level that we talked about previously. Hopefully, that's clear. If it's not, we'll be happy to respond to any questions you might have. Thanks very much.
Thank you, Thierry. Very clear. We'll start the Q&A session with Thomas Besson from Kepler Cheuvreux. Hello, Thomas.
Hello, thank you very much. Congratulations on the performance in H1. I have two questions, please. The first is to do with European regulation. Luca, you made some comments in the press in multiple papers about the fact that apparently Ursula von der Leyen seems to want to maintain the regulation as it is for 2035, 2030 and more pressingly, 2025. Can you help us understand how automakers overall and Renault in particular are going to handle that? Give us an idea of the benefits of the 60% increase in HEV on your average CO2 emissions in Europe.
Do you have an estimate of where you are in Europe in terms of CO2 in H1 2024 versus the objective in 2025? And so how are you going to make an arbitrage between eventually having to dump prices on EVs or sell your ICE products? That's the first question. The second, and sorry, I'm staying on my negative tone. You still have a great 2.6 months order bank, and you're clearly launching lots of very nice products, but European demand seems to be slowing, and the competitive landscape seems to be accelerating. Can you comment on the level of industry inventories and pricing you see by powertrain in the third quarter during the summer?
I know you have a remarkable 62-point share in retail, but even for you, it has declined a little bit. Can you finally comment on what you see as potentially a risk on financial services? The cost of risk is still very low, but with economic backdrop deteriorating, do you see that as a headwind in H2? Thank you.
Well, look, I think, you know, my call for was, although I did it as, let's say, as a CEO of Renault, for what I see in the industry, right? The reality is that we have an EV market that is stuck at 15%. In fact, when you analyze the thing, it's actually growing, you know, relatively fast in most of the market, the big impact coming from Germany. So Germany is actually pulling down the whole, the whole thing right now because they actually took off, you know, subsidies. So I think the, Let's say, the EV market is, you know, surprisingly dynamic in the last few years.
I mean, there's been very few technologies that in a matter of four or five years, they came from zero to, you know, relevant market share. If you remember, you know, maybe, I don't know, common rail in the 1980s, 1990s, etc. So it, it's very dynamic, but the thing doesn't match the speed that is required to hit what they are asking us to do, which is to have average fleet of, yeah, average, let's say, impact of 95 grams for each one of the fleet of each manufacturer. So I think that to hit the target, we need to be way above 20%, maybe 22, 23. Okay, that's our estimation, and we are at 15. Now, this is the average, right? So my call is that it's not going fast enough.
But, you know, the problem is on the shoulders of the manufacturer, because we are the only ones supposed to pay fines. There are no fines for people not putting infrastructure. There are no fines for energy industry, you know, that provide or not renewable energy at the competitive price, et cetera, et cetera. So that's the reality we are facing, right? And we estimate that all in all, we'll not make it if it goes like this, okay? Now, if there is a, you know, an OEM that can reach the target, this is us. We sell small cars. We had a top two, you know, in hybrid, so we basically replaced the old diesel thing with hybrid.
So we have a very very high mix, up to 60%, 80% on some, on some models. And we have an array of new EV products coming right now from Dacia, from Renault, from Alpine, et cetera, et cetera, of cars that are supposed to do volume because these are affordable cars, small cars. So if there's someone that can do it, but, So my call is from the industry, and this, this could have a huge impact for the thing, because if you, if you make the math and it stays there, is more than EUR 10 billion fines, theoretically.
For the industry, for a passenger car, and in on commercial vehicle, you know, there's no way you can do it because EV technology is not adapted to that kind of usage, so the mix is even the half of what is in passenger car. So, I think we are, we are calling for a level of flexibility, okay? As it happened, for example, in 2020, okay? Because, you know, a lot of things are not going in the dream. We are not saying, I mean, I'm not saying that we should renounce to the target because I, we are fully committed to that. Now, it will be a day-by-day management of the thing.
We will decide where we are, depending on, you know, the success of hybrid, especially EV, because one EV basically accounts for four IC cars. So the EV is key in this calculation. So we will try to do the job. We are relatively, let's say, well-positioned, but it's a problem for the whole sector. On the, let's say, 2.6 months, actually, we are seeing orders. We don't communicate orders, but we are seeing orders, compared to last year, growing because of, of course, also the new product are coming in. So we feel, you know, all the KPIs are right. It's a bit slower on the EVs, okay? Because of the general situation of the market, uncertainty, you know, subsidy are going in and out, et cetera, et cetera.
The retail part is, you know, you pointed out that we are going down. I think it's a technical thing, let's say, on, you know, movement of some rental cars, et cetera. So I think we are keeping the pace. But, you know, when you are 20 points above the average, it may be time to, you know, also, with the new product that we have, maybe C-segment cars, to go back a little bit to do good fleets, but we can define the condition ourselves. So we're not gonna go in fleets to discount cars. So we're gonna go in fleets if there is a good opportunity because, let's say, because the, you know, the companies want our product, okay?
So I think you can see it actually as an opportunity, because being so high on retail maybe is not a totally natural thing. It is for sure for Dacia because it's a pure retail brand, but I think we have some opportunity that we didn't took to do volumes. But as you know, inventory are down, production capacity is filled, order book we have, so there is no reason, you know, to push. We are also in the market relatively, you know, well-positioned in terms of market share. So for us, focus is to generate cash, to make money, and to continue to serve our customer and doing, you know, a go-to-market strategy that is oriented to value and quality more than volume.
Yeah, and just, you know, 62% versus an average 40, this means that we're more than 50% above the market average, so it's still a pretty good result, I think. And also, to Luca's point, the profitability on the fleet side is very good. So the differential on the fleet sales, sales that we're taking today is minimal compared to retail, so it's a good position. But, as Luca said, it's a volume opportunity for the future. You had a small question on cost of risk of our Mobilize Financial Services. It's obviously something that we track very, very closely. It was up a few basis points versus last year, on retail but mostly outside of Europe. So, so far, no real trend in terms of evolution of cost of risk, and obviously, we'll keep monitoring the situation very closely.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. We will now take a question from Michael Jacks, Bank of America. Michael, please, could you open your mic?
Good morning, Philippine, Thierry, Luca. Thank you for taking my questions as well, and congrats on the strong set of numbers, in what's been a tough half, I guess, for a number of your competitors. Staying on the topic of EVs and tariffs, Europe has implemented tariffs now on Chinese BEVs, but not on PHEVs, and it would appear that one or two of your Chinese competitors are pivoting shipments in response to that. Is this an oversight by the EU, and do you see that as a potential threat, especially given the increase in your own HEV mix? That's my first question. My second question is just on Nissan share sales. You had planned to sell up to 7.5% by the end of September.
Do you still think this is feasible in light of Nissan's guide cut this morning, and what is your latest thinking on disposal timeline to get down to the 15% stake? And one small additional question, if I may. Luca, Thierry, you confirmed the outlook for an H2 margin above H1, even including the HORSE effect. Why not raise the margin guide then, for the full year? Thank you.
Look, Michael, I think the PHEV, we also, you know, we also work on that technology, as you know. We have seen recently actually the mix in Europe going down. It's a technology more adapted to premium cars, to high-end cars, because it's innately very expensive. Actually, you have two, basically two powertrains in the same thing. Of course, you know, any push from any competitor coming from east or west are a challenge, but, you know, we are used to challenges. We have this technology, which is actually pretty efficient. If the market goes up for plug-in hybrid, I think we can follow. But I don't think that plug-in hybrid will become a dominant technology in Europe, okay?
I think we have to bet on, you know, mild hybridization, hybridization, and especially EVs, because the rules of the game are even more clear. I mean, we have seen also a revision of, let's say, the regulation on plug-in hybrid that make them even less attractive, right? So you're seeing trends in, for example, in Germany, where PHEV has been kind of taken out of... In a way, in a way, penalized as a technology. They are revising what is the cycle, the consumption cycle of the thing, and trying to raise that from the 20-30 grams that is now to above. You see demand for plug-in hybrid with batteries above 100 km, which makes the thing even more expensive. So, I think it's a good technology personally.
I think I'm for technological neutrality, so I think we have to have any kind of technology to really, you know, hit the target of CO2. But I suppose that it will be a technology more for the high-end, the high-end thing, and not, you know, a core technology for Europe, considering how the regulation are defined and what is the, let's say, customer demands.
On the Nissan shares, you know, yes, it's obviously still possible, and by the way, it's not limited to the 7.5. So the 7.5 is the offer that we put forward in March. But we can, you know, we can put down another offer if we deem appropriate for a larger amount, if we think it's the right timing. When we did the new alliance agreements and we put the 28% in the trust, clearly the intent is to go down in terms of ownership, and we'll continue to do so.
It needs to be the right timing, but we're going to continue to redeploy capital, depending on our perception of Nissan's performance and the way it's going to evolve, and also depending on our capital needs. As we keep the Nissan shares, we get the dividend, so there's not much point in just selling and keeping the cash in the bank. So one element is the use of proceeds, but to be clear, we will continue to go down in terms of ownership of Nissan. That was always the intent, and we'll continue to do so. On H2 versus H1, so first, to be clear, in terms of rate, H2 margin will be better than H1, excluding the HORSE impact.
And again, as a reminder, there's going to be a lot of horsing today, but five months of fifty-five million is three hundred and thirty million of adverse impact in H2 versus H1. But this, you know, if you exclude this impact, margin rate will improve. The margin will improve in terms of absolute value, regardless of HORSE, so in mass, it will be higher. But if you take, you know, this effect of the 55 x 5, that's, you know, more than one point of margin, and that explains why at this stage we're not, we're not changing the guidance.
That's very clear. Thank you.
We'll now take a question from, George Galliers, Goldman Sachs. George, please, could you open your mic?
Yeah, thank you. I'm sorry to be an absolute bore on this, but just because you used the term margin, which I think people associate with a percentage, just to be clear, what you're saying is the absolute profit should be higher than the EUR 2.18 billion that you just reported for the first half. Is that correct?
Correct.
Yeah. Great. Thank you. A very interesting presentation at the start. I just wanted to follow up on one of the points. You mentioned the opportunity for productivity gains of 15% on R&D from AI. Can you give any indication by when this might be achievable, and how should we think about this? Should we think about this as being your absolute spend, being potentially 15% lower in the future than it is today, or is this an efficiency that will allow you to invest more in other areas? And on the topic of R&D, clearly, we also had a nice tailwind in the income statement. Just with respect to the billings, could you help us understand how those work?
Do the billings normally relate to R&D expense during the same period, or are there also instances where the billings are for work which Renault may have incurred in prior periods? Thank you.
Maybe you can. Let's say you can,
Yeah. On the R&D billings, it's, you know, they're relative to the R&D that we do on behalf of some of the partners that we have in the ecosystem. They typically would be within the period. In the case of the first quarter, there was a catch-up on some of the R&D billings that had occurred in prior periods. In any case, this R&D billing phenomenon was a bit of a one-off in the first half. So you shouldn't expect anything very material from an R&D billing perspective in the second half of the year. So we'll be back to sort of a normal type of situation within the guidance of less than 8% of turnover.
Maybe I'll leave it to Gilles to answer for the question on productivity. I think it will be both, George.
Yes.
I think it will be, you know, savings, on the other side, we, we actually bring that productivity to new technology. But,
Yes, so a few words on which we are, we are working on, first of all, is to get, you know, AI is all about data. So as explained by Luca, we are gathering all our data in six digital work streams, and of course, for the upstream one, it's called RVT, Renault Virtual Twin, that we developed with, together with Dassault Systèmes. And that's very simple. We gathered all the data, CAD, cost, all the purchasing data, all the logistic, all the industry in one area with a single point of truth for each data. Based on that, we can, of course, optimize and use AI. And two example, very simple: first, we work on having direct CAD generation through AI, generative AI, based on existing, I would say, CAD from all the RVT program and all the cars that have already been engineered.
So automatic CAD generation, that you can imagine, is very helping a lot regarding timing. Second example, of course, is well known, but is automatic generation of code for software, automatic coding that we are using also, and that's cutting the timing and the cost by between 30%-50%. So just those two examples, but of course, we have plenty. For example, automatic costing, also, based on a large number of data that we have is helping us in costing and, of course, reaching our cost target for each and every car. So these are a few examples.
George, I mean, to make it clear, you can't make AI a structural driver or your day-by-day performance if you don't set up, you know, a data lake. Okay? And this data lake can, you know, has to be, let's say, connected with few systems that run the different divisions of the company. We started this work four years ago.
If you talk to the Dassault Systèmes guys, they will probably tell you that we have a few years of advantage because we started at the beginning with the vision of putting a layer of IT architecture, and creating a virtual twin over and on top of the company to manage what you call the complexity of the different units, you know, division with, I don't know, Dacia, Alpine, you know, HORSE, et cetera, et cetera. This is the outcome of a work that started a long time ago now, and that's why we think we have something special.
We don't do AI just for the fun or for the show. We do it, and we embed it in the real core process of the company. The ones that started this thing, actually, even before I came, was manufacturing, and we got the inspiration from that example, and then we went downstream and now upstream, you know, upstream to the engineering, downstream to the logistics, to the customer, I think. So that's a very... I think we have something pretty special.
Thank you, Luca. We now have a question from Renato Gargiulo from Intesa. Renato, please, could you open your mic?
Yes, good. Yes, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. The first one is on pricing. You were citing a price stabilization, if you exclude the prices to offset Forex and devaluation in some markets, and that you are using your lower cost base to have a competitive offering in the next months. So I was wondering, what are you seeing in terms of price environment going forward in the second half of the year? The second question is on light commercial vehicles. You achieved another good performance in the first half, I can assume, with good margins. Even in this case, if you can give us an indication and outlook about the remaining part of the year. Thank you.
Look, the pricing depends on what you want to do, right? So I think i n general, I think there is more pressure in the market, that's for sure, especially for the people that have a lot of stock, which is not our case. But you see the position of Renault. We are, you know, maybe number two, number three in the market with the Renault brand. We are in the top 10 with Dacia. You know, Sandero is most sold car in Europe. Clio must be number two or three, something, three or four, exactly. So three, okay? So I think we don't have to stretch the thing, so we don't need to necessarily push. We'll continue in this direction.
We'll try maybe to get, you know, in two channels, about the right condition without discounting. So in general, I think there will be pressure on price, as you anticipate, or as we all actually even see. But price stabilization and giving that back to the customer is good because it makes, you know, our, you know, offer more attractive at the condition that we keep the margin. And as we said at the beginning, our priority is to keep the margin generating cash, so that's the condition. So, but if we have some room, you know, we will do it. If we have to adjust, we will do it. But, as I said, we are relatively, let's say, relaxed on that because I'm not here to push, metal that, the market doesn't want.
On the LCV, I think we'll continue on that trend. Don't forget that we just launched the new Master, and this is probably, right now, the best car in the market. Normally, I mean, this model has always been the cash cow of commercial vehicle. This is where really the big money is. So I think we will have, you know, a product effect into the thing that makes me also pretty relaxed about the performance of commercial e.
Thank you.
Thank you. We now have a question from Stephen Reitman from Bernstein. Stephen, please, could you open your mic?
Yes, thank you, and good morning. And good, congratulations on the results. Obviously, all the talk about tariffs on Chinese BEVs coming into Europe, but obviously, but on the other hand, maybe less discussion about how probably you have now probably the most coherent response to the threat from cheaper Chinese BEVs with your BEV strategy. So I was wondering, when are you going to give us some more detail about, precise about, first customer deliveries, and when will we actually get a chance to actually to, to drive the Renault 5? And could you give us some more information maybe about the order intake and, and, and any other data you want to share with us?
I think there is, it's a bit early, you know, because we launched Scenic, let's say, I think it came into the dealership in April, May in France, and then maybe later June in other countries. So I think we'll have to wait for end of the year. We'll also have to see next year, because I think that next year we'll see an acceleration of the EV market, okay? So, because of, you know, the whole story of CAFE. Hopefully, it's healthy, okay? And Renault 5 will start to deliver in October, okay? You know, from a production point of view, this thing is, the ramp-up is going, okay?
A couple of weeks ago, we started to really get into, you know, really good production rhythm. So probably we will be able to see the potential of the Renault 5, I would say, maybe mid-2025, okay? We have a lot of, let's say, interest for the car, that's for sure. We haven't, let's say, opened, or we have very recently opened the order book in the ordering, I think, in France. So I think it's too early right now to say. I can tell you, I drive a yellow Renault 5 in Paris, one of the first one. I can tell you that, you know, people stop me at every, you know, red light, and they make selfies with me. So I think that car is really a magnet for people.
Now, we have to see if this converts into order, but it seems to... You know, it seems good, right? It's a very unique proposition, because new generation car at that level of price, new, completely new platform. You see that we don't have a lot of competition, to be honest, at that level of the market.
Thank you, Stephen. We now have a last question from Pushkar Tendolkar from HSBC. Pushkar, please, could you open your mic?
Sure. Sure. Thanks, Philippine. And, thanks, Luca and Thierry, as well, for taking my questions. I think a couple of clarifications actually that I have. One is on your EBIT, operating profit bridge. The price mix enrichment bucket is a lot lower compared to that same price bucket, which was almost EUR 450 million in the revenue bridge. Just a bit confused because this hasn't been the case in the past. Is it because of enrichment being a lot more negative than it used to be, or you're offsetting price in the FX bucket, on that bridge? And then, you mentioned earlier on inventories that the current 500,000 level is, a healthy level. I think that was- we were close to that level by year-end 2023 as well.
Going forward, would we see wholesale and retail kind of tracking each other, or there is still some sort of effect left in that? Thanks.
Hi, Pushkar. Thanks for the questions. I'll take those. So on price mix enrichment, yes, it's the enrichment bucket that is negative. Price is positive. As an offset, a foreign exchange mix is positive from a margin perspective, both model mix and country mix. The thing that makes it less high than usual is the enrichment bucket. And in line with what we've said previously, we're using the strong traction that we're getting from a cost perspective to put some content in the car. So it's actually better sometimes to put some content in the car to improve the margins than to give price away.
And I think that's something that you'll continue to see in the second half. I think the thing that you should have in mind is that, if you take the EUR 93 million that we've got in FX, and then the effect of price mix enrichment and cost together, that's EUR 400 million of margin improvement in the marginal profit of the vehicle. That's why... That's how we drive the profitability forward. So give a little back to the customers, but while improving the margins, if that makes sense. And then, your second question on inventories, yeah. So the 500,000 is a good level for us.
I don't, we don't foresee massive changes between now and the end of the year, maybe 5 or 10K, depending on, you know, the launch, cycle, et cetera. Whereas last year, we had a big ramp-up of inventory in the first half and a ramp down in the second half. We don't have to do that in the second half. So you should see registrations and wholesale pretty much evolving together in the future. There's always gonna be some timing, but generally speaking, there's not gonna be any massive inventory, movements, like there has been in 2023. Thank you.
Thank you, Thierry. We finally have a last question from José Asumendi, J.P. Morgan. José, please could you open your mic?
Good morning, can you hear me?
Yeah.
Perfect. Thank you very much. Congratulations on the results, and a few questions for Thierry. Maybe just to kick it off with financials, do you expect, just a few of them, do you expect volume to be a positive contribution on the bridge in the second half of the year? There is a second, there's a large acceleration of product mix and geo mix in the second quarter. Do you expect this momentum to continue into the second half of the year? Three, housekeeping, HORSE, how much is the negative impact year-on-year in the second half? I know you mentioned the number, but if you could just repeat, please, how much is HORSE year-on-year on the bridge in H2? And then please, on that, if you could just comment again on pricing.
One of your peers just is showing sort of 6.5% margins in Europe, is taking a 2.5% margin hit on pricing. Are you seeing anything exceptional happening in the European market in terms of pricing power? And then, Luca, a couple of them for you, please. On emissions, do you think there should be a bit more coordinated approach from European countries to provide incentives to sell electric vehicles in 2025 to help, you know, European car makers meet emission targets? I mean, this is becoming very obvious as we go into 2025. And then second, can you comment tactically whether you could consider giving back some of the money you're getting from the sale of the shares in Nissan? Would you think...
Do you think you could actually give back some of the cash back to shareholders, say, 50% back to shareholders and 50% to be reinvested back into the business? Thank you.
Now, from the last one, I'll answer, I mean, on behalf and under the control of Thierry. But I mean, we have always said that our priority is to get back to investment grade, and starting from that, we will, you know, we will have a, you know, a dividend policy which is transparent and good, go up, get, gets up to 35%. So this is. We'll continue and confirm our, let's say, our position on that. You were asking me on the coordination of the European country. I mean, this is exactly what we wish. We need a, we need a really a strategy, right? We don't, we don't need a, you know, a set of deadlines and fines to get the thing done.
We need a kind of a 360 approach and coordinated. I mean, it's a bit worrying that, for example, there was a proposition lately from the EU-Hungarian presidency to have exactly that kind of coordination in subsidies across Europe, et cetera. But the thing was refused. But I think that we will soon, I think that we will create soon a certain understanding that if it continues like this, the plan doesn't work, right? Because you know, we have to see EVs going very quickly above 20%. And then, of course, each one of the OEMs will try to do its best. As I said before, Renault is probably, you know, well-positioned because of the mix we have, et cetera.
Also, the support in France, because it's one of the country that didn't, you know, pull off from that. But, yeah, so that's what I'm screaming for since, you know, since months, is European strategy for energy transition in the automotive. Yeah, so I think, if not, then we have to call for flexibility. That means a little bit what happened in 2020, where you had, I don't know, super credits for EVs or for some technologies, that will allow us not to be all involved in fine payments, which are not an efficient way of developing, I think, even the business itself and the technology.
Hi, Jose, by the way. On your questions, volume, yes, will be a positive year-over-year, especially since last year we had to de-stock in H2 to get back to the 500 mark. We no longer have to do that. So it'll be positive year-over-year, and it will also be positive sequentially, in particular, thanks to the launches that you mentioned. On the impact of HORSE year-over-year on H2, basically, take the EUR 55 million that we had in the month of June and multiply that by six, right? So it's EUR 330 million adverse impact, profit and cash embedded in the numbers in the forecast that I gave you. Hope that's clear.
That's very clear. And then on pricing, are you seeing anything exceptional? We just have one of your peers reporting.
On pricing, yes, sorry. Yeah, I missed that one. I think Luca, you know, answered on pricing. It's definitely a more tense environment. But, again, you know, we have over 90% utilization on plants. We've got 2.6 months of order book. We're launching a whole bunch of new models. So, you know, we're gonna do some stuff in content like we've done in the first half, but we're gonna stick to our guns. And I wanna take the opportunity because you're kind of asking the profitability in Europe, and I'd like to say that Europe is above average in Group's profitability, right? So if you take the 8.1% that we're reporting for this semester, the European margin is actually higher than that.
It's a good way to conclude.
I'll leave it there. Thank you so much.
It's a good way to conclude, guys. So I can only wish you fantastic summer, and I thank you all for your support. Thank you very much.