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27817
Sat, 11/01/2008 - 00:58
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https://oananews.org//node/27817
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Nissan`s sales, profit to fall in FY 2008, 1st time in 9 yrs
TOKYO, Oct. 31 Kyodo -
Nissan Motor Co. will likely see declines in both its annual sales and profit in fiscal 2008 for the first time in nine years as it announced sharp downward revisions to its earnings forecast Friday due to slowing demand amid the global economic downturn and the surging yen.
Japan's third-largest automaker is now projecting a group net profit of 160
billion yen for the current business year through March 2009, down from an
earlier estimate of 340 billion yen.
It also cut its operating profit projection from 550 billion yen to 270 billion
yen and lowered its sales forecast from 10.35 trillion yen to 9.60 trillion
yen.
''The turbulence in the financial markets and the slowing economy are dealing a
heavy blow to every automaker,'' Nissan Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga
said at a press conference. ''It would be an understatement if we were to
describe the current business environment as just 'severe','' he said.
The downward revisions to Nissan's earnings forecasts follow similar downgrade
from Japanese rivals Honda Motor Co., Mazda Motor Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors
Corp. earlier this week.
For the April-September period, Nissan logged a net profit of 126.34 billion
yen, down 40.5 percent from a year earlier, and an operating profit of 191.65
billion yen, down 47.8 percent, on sales of 4.87 trillion yen, down 3.9
percent.
Its global automotive sales totaled 1,902,000 units during the six-month
period, up 4.7 percent from a year earlier.
But Nissan has cut its sales target for the entire fiscal year from an initial
target of 3.9 million units to 3.77 million units -- the same level as a year
earlier -- reflecting quickly cooling demand in its main market of North
America, Shiga said.
He said that troubled times are likely to continue for a while and it is hard
to predict when things will return to normal, voicing concern over the sharp
appreciation of the yen against other currencies and instability in the
financial markets.
Nissan dropped its original plan to pay a full-year dividend of 42 yen
per-share for fiscal 2008. It plans to pay a dividend of 11 yen for the interim
period but said it is undecided about how much it would pay for the latter
half.
Facing dwindling vehicle demand, the company is cutting its production in the
current business year by at least 200,000 units from its original plan.
It is also slashing 2,500 jobs overseas and 1,000 non-regular employees in
Japan by the end of March.
For the April-September period, sales in North America fell 0.9 percent to
666,000 units, with those in the United States falling 3.4 percent to 516,000
units.
Sales in Japan fell 4.3 percent to 318,000 units but inched up 0.7 percent to
306,000 units in Europe as robust sales in Russia helped offset sluggish demand
in Britain and Spain.
Sales rose 20.6 percent to 612,000 units in Asia and other regions, reflecting
skyrocketing sales in the Middle East.
==Kyodo
Nissan Motor Co. will likely see declines in both its annual sales and profit in fiscal 2008 for the first time in nine years as it announced sharp downward revisions to its earnings forecast Friday due to slowing demand amid the global economic downturn and the surging yen.
Japan's third-largest automaker is now projecting a group net profit of 160
billion yen for the current business year through March 2009, down from an
earlier estimate of 340 billion yen.
It also cut its operating profit projection from 550 billion yen to 270 billion
yen and lowered its sales forecast from 10.35 trillion yen to 9.60 trillion
yen.
''The turbulence in the financial markets and the slowing economy are dealing a
heavy blow to every automaker,'' Nissan Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga
said at a press conference. ''It would be an understatement if we were to
describe the current business environment as just 'severe','' he said.
The downward revisions to Nissan's earnings forecasts follow similar downgrade
from Japanese rivals Honda Motor Co., Mazda Motor Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors
Corp. earlier this week.
For the April-September period, Nissan logged a net profit of 126.34 billion
yen, down 40.5 percent from a year earlier, and an operating profit of 191.65
billion yen, down 47.8 percent, on sales of 4.87 trillion yen, down 3.9
percent.
Its global automotive sales totaled 1,902,000 units during the six-month
period, up 4.7 percent from a year earlier.
But Nissan has cut its sales target for the entire fiscal year from an initial
target of 3.9 million units to 3.77 million units -- the same level as a year
earlier -- reflecting quickly cooling demand in its main market of North
America, Shiga said.
He said that troubled times are likely to continue for a while and it is hard
to predict when things will return to normal, voicing concern over the sharp
appreciation of the yen against other currencies and instability in the
financial markets.
Nissan dropped its original plan to pay a full-year dividend of 42 yen
per-share for fiscal 2008. It plans to pay a dividend of 11 yen for the interim
period but said it is undecided about how much it would pay for the latter
half.
Facing dwindling vehicle demand, the company is cutting its production in the
current business year by at least 200,000 units from its original plan.
It is also slashing 2,500 jobs overseas and 1,000 non-regular employees in
Japan by the end of March.
For the April-September period, sales in North America fell 0.9 percent to
666,000 units, with those in the United States falling 3.4 percent to 516,000
units.
Sales in Japan fell 4.3 percent to 318,000 units but inched up 0.7 percent to
306,000 units in Europe as robust sales in Russia helped offset sluggish demand
in Britain and Spain.
Sales rose 20.6 percent to 612,000 units in Asia and other regions, reflecting
skyrocketing sales in the Middle East.
==Kyodo
