Nissan Motor Co. (NSANY) has revealed a net income of ¥45 billion ($480 million) for the third quarter of its fiscal ended December 31, 2009, in sharp contrast to a loss of ¥83.2 billion ($810 million) in the same period a year ago. The improvement was attributable to additional sales driven by scrapping incentives in major markets, sales growth in China and measures adopted to combat the global financial and economic crisis.
 
Revenue in the quarter rose 10% to ¥1.9962 trillion ($21.33 billion). Operating profit was ¥134.1 billion ($1.43 billion) compared to an operating loss of ¥99.2 billion ($960 million). The operating profit margin stood at 6.7%.
 
Globally, Nissan sold 882,000 vehicles in the quarter, a 20.6% increase over the same period in fiscal year 2008. In January, Nissan was the only automaker among its Japanese peers to post a sales gain of 16.1% to 62,572 vehicles. This was attributable to the automaker’s boost to incentive spending by 14% to $2,455 in January. Sales at Nissan Division rose 19.4% to 55,861 units, while sales of Infiniti vehicles declined 5.7% to 6,711 units during the month.
 
Nissan has upgraded its outlook for fiscal 2009 ended March 31, 2010, based on improved market conditions. The automaker expects to generate revenues of ¥7.4 trillion ($80.43 billion) compared to ¥7 trillion ($77.78 billion) in its previous forecast. Operating profit is expected to be ¥290 billion ($3.15 billion), an improvement from ¥120 billion ($1.33 billion) in the previous forecast.
 
Nissan anticipates an income of ¥35 billion ($380 million) for fiscal 2009, in stark contrast to a previous projection of a loss of ¥40 billion ($440 million). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2009 is a profit of 51 cents per share.
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