Renault's full-year profit rose almost 50% in 2015 on strong sales of new models, but the French carmaker slashed the value of its stake in Lada-maker AvtoVAZby €225m amid a Russian car market slump.
The company said its net income rose to €2.82 billion from €1.89 billion a year earlier as revenue climbed 10.4% to €45.3 billion.
Its operating margin rose from 3.9% to 5.1% of sales, beating the company's 5% mid-term goal.
The results "mark a decisive step towards the achievement of our plan", Renault's chief executive Carlos Ghosn said.
But its profit nonetheless suffered a €620m hit from Renault's 37% indirect stake in AvtoVAZ, and the bill is likely to rise as it injects more capital to shore up the carmaker in the face of collapsing Russian demand.
Discussions with other shareholders are ongoing, the company's chief financial officer Dominique Thormann said.
Besides writing down the value of its holding - from €321m to €96m - Renault booked €395m of AvtoVAZ losses for the year. Renault expects the Russian market, which has approximately halved since 2012, to fall a further 12% this year.
"I don't expect good news from Russia in 2016," Ghosn said.
At a global level, Renault's 3.3% increase in registrations, announced last month, reflected runaway sales of the new Captur mini-SUV and solid gains for its updated Trafic van and Logan budget sedan.
But the revamped lineup failed to deliver net profitability improvement from pricing, which instead wiped €379m from earnings as a result of discounts to shift outgoing models, combined with the costs of meeting Euro 6 engine standards.
Divisional profit still jumped 74% to €1.5 billion, thanks to €527m in cost cuts in purchasing and other areas, as well as a €1.9 billion increase in sales of vehicles and engines to Daimler and Nissan, Renault's 43.4%-owned alliance partner.
Against a backdrop of a weak emerging market outlook for 2016, with Brazilian demand also expected to shrink a further 6%, Renault reiterated its pledge to increase revenue and profitability for the year.
"We should be able to grow or at least maintain our sales positions in all regions," Ghosn said.
