Nissan bucks trend as quarterly profit rises
Amid falling auto profits, Japanese car giant posted 3.2% rise in net profit helped by domestic demand and record deliveries in China
TOKYO: Nissan Motor, Japan’s second-biggest automaker, reported third- quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates, helped by domestic demand and record deliveries in China.
Net income rose 3.2 per cent to ¥82.7 billion ($ 1 billion) in the three months ended December 31, the company said in a statement yesterday. That exceeded the ¥71.3 billion average forecast of seven analyst.
Vehicle sales at Nissan, which recovered faster than Toyota Motor and Honda Motor from natural disasters in 2011, rose 24 per cent in China last quarter, helping it become the only one among Japan’s three-biggest carmakers to report a profit gain for the period.
Japanese car giant Nissan, bucking the national trend in falling auto profits, said its third-quarter results were up on year as solid global sales offset the impact of a strong yen.
Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Nissan, said last month he expects a record year for the automotive industry this year, with growth in the United States, China and most developing countries.
“Nissan was barely affected by the natural disasters last year, so we can expect them to continue growing this year,” said Mitsushige Akino, who oversees $600 million at Ichiyoshi Investment Management in Tokyo. “Nissan has the ability to flexibly adjust production in regions where demand is strong, so even if it slows down in certain regions, it shouldn’t be difficult for them to make it up elsewhere.”
China sales
Nissan, which kept its full-year earnings forecasts unchanged, rose 2.4 per cent to close at ¥774 in Tokyo trading before the company reported earnings. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average advanced 1.1 per cent.
Global sales rose to a record 4.67 million vehicles in 2011 at Nissan, including a 22 per cent gain in China, as gains in overseas markets offset declining deliveries at home, the company said last month.
During the quarter ended December, operating profit rose 3.6 per cent to ¥118.1 billion and revenue increased 11 per cent to ¥2.33 trillion. Operating profit in Asia — including China — rose 2.4 per cent to ¥47.9 and jumped to ¥16.8 billion in Japan, versus ¥1 billion a year earlier, Nissan said.
Nissan’s Chinese venture plans to invest 50 billion yuan ($7.9 billion) by 2015, the company said last July, as part of its target to boost its share of China sales to about 10 per cent from 6.2 per cent last year.
Mexico plant
The Japanese automaker plans to introduce about 30 products in China by 2015, including a fully electric car, it said.
Nissan’s US sales rose 10 per cent last month, led by the mid-size Al- tima sedan, Rogue compact crossovers and Quest minivans. In 2011, Nissan sold a record 224,509 autos in Mexico, up 19 per cent from the previous year, according to the nation’s auto dealership association, known as AMDA.
The automaker also said in January it will spend as much as $2 billion on a third factory in Mexico. The company shifted production of low-cost cars to Thailand and Mexico in recent years to counter losses from making vehicles in its home market as the yen appreciated more than any major currency since 2010.
Toyota has reported a 14 per cent drop in third-quarter net income. Still, the maker of the Camry sedan raised its vehicle sales forecast for the second time in less than a month as it rolls out new versions of the Prius gas-electric hybrid car and Lexus vehicles.