Renault shares plunge after police raids on sites
French stock market falls and almost €5bn wiped off carmaker’s market value after news of police raids at sites reportedly linked to emissions engineering
Shares in Renault tumbled more than 20% on news that police had raided several of the French carmaker’s sites.
Initial reports suggested the raids were connected to the Volkswagen emissions scandal but Renault, which confirmed that fraud investigators had searched three sites last week, said “no evidence of a defeat device equipping Renault vehicles” had been found.
The carmaker said investigators had decided to carry out additional checks on parts and factories to look at the way it uses exhaust emissions technology, following an earlier investigation by the French government.
The raid was first reported by Agence France-Presse, and sent Renault’s shares sharply lower. They fell to €68.74, wiping €5bn (£3.7bn) off the company’s market value and depressing European markets. Already down around 2% on the back of lower oil prices, the French stock market, CAC, and its German counterpart, the DAX, extended their losses to more than 3% after the Renault reports.
A union official, Florent Grimaldi, told Reuters: “There were searches at several Renault sites by fraud investigators. Management has not confirmed that it is about NOx emissions but given the sectors that were inspected we think that it could be linked.”
Since Volkswagen admitted in September it had used software to manipulate emissions tests in some diesel vehicles, investigations have been launched in several countries into the German carmaker, but also into other car manufacturers.
Shares in other carmakers also fell, with Peugeot down 6.6%, even though the company said emissions tests carried out by the French energy ministry on its cars showed no anomalies and that it had not been subject to searches by fraud investigators. In Frankfurt, Daimler was down 5.5%, BMW lost 4.5% and Volkswagen shed 4.6%.
A union official, Florent Grimaldi, told Reuters: “There were searches at several Renault sites by fraud investigators. Management has not confirmed that it is about NOx emissions but given the sectors that were inspected we think that it could be linked.”
Since Volkswagen admitted in September it had used software to manipulate emissions tests in some diesel vehicles, investigations have been launched in several countries into the German carmaker, but also into other car manufacturers.
[Source:- the gurdian]