Nissan’s Q3 Results Show Fall in Profit, Forecast Stable

Feb. 8 – Yokohama – Nissan announced third quarter financial results Friday, posting a net profit of 54.1 billion yen, or $670 million, down 35% from the same period last year.

Nissan CVP Joji Tagawa delivers quarterly results

Joji Tagawa, Nissan’s corporate vice president with responsibility for investor relations, said the quarter fell short of the company’s expectations, but Nissan is maintaining its full-year profit outlook.
“We have positive results, both from an operational and financial standpoint,” Tagawa said. “But we have a couple of challenges: the China situation, the European situation is slowing down and .we are facing some tough times in selling new vehicles in the United States.”
A weaker yen and increasing sales in China should boost performance during the current quarter and beyond.

The yen has fallen to a 20-month low against the dollar and similar slide against the euro, after Japan’s new Liberal Democratic Party-led government committed to defeating deflation and boosting Japan Inc competitiveness.

In China, Nissan’s sales jumped 22% in January – a sign the impact of a territorial row over the Senkaku, or Diaoyu, Islands last year is fading.

Nissan results announcement in Yokohama

“Both [China and the yen] are improving. They have a while to go, but they are getting better, ” said Bertel Schmitt, Japan-based blogger and editor-in-chief of The Truth About Cars.
Nissan’s results follow Toyota, which now expects a profit of 860 billion yen this fiscal year, while Japan’s No. 3 automaker Honda trimmed its profit outlook 1.3% to 370 billion.
With a raft of models in the pipeline, including the Versa Note displayed last month in Detroit, CVP Tagawa said Nissan remains on track to meet its longer-term goals.