Renault, France's second biggest carmaker, on Thursday announced its revenue at 8.25 billion euros (11.4 billion U.S. dollars), almost unchanged from the same period last year.

In a financial report released on its website, the French automaker saw receipts of its automotive division slightly down by 0.1 percent to 7.72 billion euros due to currency effects.

"Thanks to an improvement in European markets and to the success of its new models," the French group sold 636,239 units, up by 5.1 percent from last year with European market absorbed 17.7 percent, bringing its market share in passenger cars and light commercial vehicles to 9.7 percent, up by 0.8 percentage point.

For the whole year of 2014, the group expected the European market to grow by up to 3 percent.

Outside European markets, Renault suffered 7.9-percent fall in its sales due to a "downward trend in its main international markets," mainly in the Asia-Pacific region, where the group's registrations shrunk by 30 percent due to the situation in Iran, Renault said.

"In the first quarter, trends in key markets were contrasted. While main emerging markets were slowing down with poor visibility, the European market recovery appeared stronger than foreseen. In this uncertain environment, the Group expects slightly declining Russian and Brazilian markets," it added. (1 euro = 1.38 U.S. dollars)