Renault bought a 90% stake in the struggling Lotus F1 team for just £1.

The deal, concluded days before Christmas, sees the French manufacturer buy a 90% stake in the Enstone-based outfit it sold to Genii Capital in 2009.

Whilst the original 2009 sale saw Renault take an £86m hit, further investment since then by Genii has seen a combined loss of £184m.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the Enstone outfit's latest accounts reveal that in the year ending December 2014, revenue rose by 23.7% to £114.7m, thanks largely to Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.

This, combined with an "aggressive cost-cutting plan", which began in early 2014, saw the Enstone team's net loss drop to just £8.6m.

Genii’s chief executive, Eric Lux, has described the outcome as "an excellent financial result".

Over time, Genii has ploughed £98.2m in loans into the team, and whilst this was written off in the sale to Renault - which paid off numerous debts, including that to the British tax authorities, which would have put the team into administration - it has retained 10% stake in the team in a bid to finally make some sort of profit.

"There has been a dramatic fall in financing costs, as well as cost savings made as a result of the organisational restructure in February 2014," said Lux, referring to move which included letting 93 staff go, thereby saving £6.8m.

With Renault back in charge such measures shouldn't be an issue from now on.