"Our results testify to the relevance of our strategy to create greater value for our customers and place their satisfaction at the heart of our challenges, while optimizing our operational management. Through the commitment and hard work of our teams, we are consolidating our position as market leader. We also continue to play an important role in Renault Group's ambition to contribute to more sustainable mobility, by anticipating the new requirements of our customers and providing offers that correspond to the new uses and practices of mobility." says Martin Thomas, CEO of Mobilize Financial Services.
SALES MOMENTUM DRIVEN BY A FAVORABLE MARKET
Given the favorable trend in the automotive market and the growth in Renault Group, Nissan and Mitsubishi registrations, Mobilize Financial Services saw the number of new financing contracts increase by 2.5% in the first half of 2024.
Excluding companies consolidated by the equity method, the overall intervention rate stands at 42.8%, a slight decline compared to the first half of 2023 (-0.5 point), due to a reduction in the share of the private customer channel, where intervention rates are traditionally the highest. The intervention rate for electric vehicles stands at 51.4% (+9 points compared with the intervention rate for other types of motorization).
As part of the environmental component of its ESG strategy, Mobilize Financial Services aims to increase the share of electric vehicles in its financing and, to this end, is developing financing offers for energy-related services and products, such as the Mobilize Charge Pass or Powerbox.
Mobilize Financial Services has funded 660,137 new financing contracts in the first half of 2024, an increase of 2.1% compared to the end of June 2023. Second-hand vehicle financing was down by 10.4% in the same period last year, with 154,389 contracts financed.
Benefiting from a growing operational leasing market, Mobilize Lease&Co, was created at the end of 2022 with the aim of extending and standardizing Renault Group leasing offers in Europe and Latin America. Its results for the first half of 2024 are very promising, with growth of 35% compared with the same period in 2023. With 101,450 operational leasing contracts for private and professional customers, surpassing the 75,165 contracts for the first six months of 2023 thanks to excellent results in the French market in the private customer segment, but also to the results of the German subsidiary MeinAuto, whose takeover was made official at the very beginning of 2024. Other subsidiaries, such as Spain and SelectLease by Mobilize in the UK, contributed to this strong increase, which was completed by the opening of a subsidiary in Colombia at the end of 2023.
New financing (excluding cards and personal loans) amount to 10.7 billion euros, a 2.5% increase, driven by registrations of Renault Group brands and a rise in the volume of new vehicle applications (+6.6% compared to the first half of 2023).
Average performing assets related to the Customer business increased by 11.7% to 44.2 billion euros in the first half of 2024. Average performing assets related to the Network business also benefited from a market no longer penalized by semiconductor shortages, and stood at 10.6 billion euros, up by 3.2%. Overall, average performing assets reached 54.9 billion euros, an increase of 9.9% in the first half of 2023.
The number of insurance and service contracts sold in the first half of 2024 stood at 1.9 million units.
Mobilize Financial Services achieves a record level of customer recommendation, with a Net Promoter Score of +59, an increase of one point compared to November 2023, the date of the last edition of this performance report.
A ROBUST FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
Net Banking Income (NBI) stood at €1,075 million, an increase of 10.4% compared to the end of June 2023. This growth results both from the increase in average performing assets and from the non-recurrence of a negative impact of -37 million euros in the first half of 2023 linked to interest-rate swaps hedging sight deposits, which are booked at market value.
Operating expenses amounted to 365 million euros in the first half of 2024, compared to 356 million euros at the end of June 2023. The increase of 9 million euros is mainly due to the acquisition of the German car leasing company MeinAuto in January 2024. Operating expenses represented 1.34% of average performing assets, an improvement of 10 base points in the first half of 2023.
Earnings before tax thus amounted to 553 million euros (versus 487 million euros at the end of June 2023).
A STRATEGY FOR DIVERSIFYING FINANCING SOURCES
In the context of controlled inflation in favor of sustained growth, but also risk aversion due to political and budgetary uncertainty at European level, Mobilize Financial Services issued bonds worth the equivalent of 3 billion euros in the first half of 2024.
The Group entered the euro market on 3 occasions, issuing respectively 600 million euros at 5 years, 1,500 million euros in double-tranche format (800 million euros at 3.5 years and 700 million euros at 7 years) and a new Tier 2 subordinated loan for 750 million euros (settlement date July 2024). At the same time, and in line with its policy of diversifying funding sources, a 3-year issue of 650 million Złoty (PLN) (150 million euros) was carried out by the Polish subsidiary.
In securitization, the Group placed around 800 million euros' worth of securities backed by car loans granted by its German branch. Private securitization issued for car loans in the UK and for leasing in Germany saw their revolving period extended for further two years, and their amount increased slightly to £700 million in the UK and 450 million euros in Germany.
The Savings business remained competitive in terms of the cost of the resources collected, demonstrating once again the relevance of the strategy of diversifying financing initiated more than ten years ago. Outstanding savings increased by 1.2 billion euros since the beginning of 2024, to 29.4 billion euros.
[1] Excluding equity-accounted companies
[2] Net Promoter Score (NPS) is the percentage of customers who rate their likelihood of recommending a company, product or service to a friend or colleague as 9 or 10 (“promoters”) minus the percentage rating his likelihood as 6 or less (“detractors”) on a scale of 0 to 10.
[3] Average performing assets: APM correspond to average performing assets plus assets related to operating leasing activities. For customers, this is the average of month-end earning assets. For the network, it is the average of daily earning assets.