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By Bloomberg

Renault SA rose the most in 10 weeks in Paris trading as a recovery in the region’s auto market and growth in the French company’s manufacturing partnerships propelled a 14 percent jump in first-quarter revenue.

Renault gained as much as 6 percent, the steepest intraday increase since Feb. 12, and was trading up 4.3 percent at 97.61 euros as of 9:53 a.m. The stock has surged 61 percent this year to value the carmaker, Europe’s third-largest, at 28.8 billion euros ($31.4 billion).

Sales in the quarter rose to 9.39 billion euros a year earlier, beating the 8.46 billion-euro average analyst estimate. Almost half the increase was generated by deliveries of vehicles and parts that the carmaker produces for other companies such as Daimler AG and Nissan Motor Co.

“The key surprise” was the revenue growth from supply partnerships, “highlighting Renault’s increasing contribution of earnings outside of new-car sales,” analysts at Citigroup Inc., including Philip Watkins and Avinash Mundhra in London, said in a report to clients.

Renault and its Dacia brand increased global first-quarter car sales 0.8 percent to 641,588 vehicles as a 9.9 percent jump in Europe more than made up for an 11 percent plunge in other markets that stemmed mainly from contractions in Brazilian and Russian demand, the company said Thursday in a statement. Automotive revenue was also helped by the euro’s drop against the U.K. pound and currencies in emerging markets as well as price increases.

‘Impressive Evidence’

The figures “provide more impressive evidence of how Renault is able to benefit from improvements in Europe whilst containing adverse market conditions in Russia and Latin America,” Arndt Ellinghorst, a London-based analyst at Evercore ISI, said in a report. “All this is before the likely positive impact” of new, higher-end models due out this year.

Renault will introduce five vehicles in 2015, starting with the new Espace minivan and Kadjar compact sport-utility vehicle. As part of a strategy to expand in emerging markets, the French company plans to roll out an ultra-low-cost vehicle in India this year and start building cars in China in 2016.

The company, based in the Paris suburb of Boulogne- Billancourt, raised its forecast for industrywide European car sales this year to 5 percent from 2 percent, while saying market declines in Brazil and Russia will probably exceed projections. It also reiterated full-year financial targets, including a higher operating margin than in 2014.

The company owns 43 percent of Japanese carmaker Nissan, and they jointly control a majority stake in OAO AvtoVAZ, the biggest auto manufacturer in Russia. Renault said Thursday that it’s put off consolidation of AvtoVAZ, originally planned for the end of last year, until conditions allow the move.