Nissan Motor Co. (NSANY) posted a profit of ¥30.77 billion ($380 million) in the fourth quarter of the year in stark contrast to a loss of ¥11.6 billion in the year-ago quarter. Sales in the quarter appreciated 10% to ¥2.35 trillion ($29 billion).
For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, the automaker reported more than sevenfold increase in profit to ¥319.2 billion ($3.94 billion) from the previous fiscal year. Sales increased 17% to ¥8.77 trillion ($108 billion).
Nissan sold 4.185 million vehicles during the year, an increase of 19.1% from 3.515 million vehicles in the previous year. The company’s sales in its largest market, China, surged 35.5% to 1.02 million vehicles.
Nissan did not provide any sales and earnings for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012 like its other domestic rivals, Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) and Honda Motor Co. (HMC) due to uncertainties emanating from the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crises in Japan.
However, the company’s CEO Carlos Ghosn asserted that production at Nissan’s global plants will return to its pre-disaster level by October this year.
Yesterday, Toyotareported a profit of ¥408.18 billion ($5.07 billion) or ¥130.16 ($1.60) per share for its fiscal 2011 ended March 31, 2011 that almost doubled from ¥209.46 billion or ¥66.79 per share a year ago.
The increase in profit was attributable to positive impact of ¥490.0 billion due to marketing efforts and ¥180.0 billion due to cost reduction measures, partially offset by a negative impact of ¥110.0 billion due to the earthquake in Japan and ¥290.0 billion due to unfavorable exchange rates.
However, Honda’s results were disappointing. The automaker revealed a 38% fall in profit to ¥44.55 billion ($536 million) or ¥24.72 per share (30 cents per share) in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 from ¥72.18 billion or ¥39.78 per share in the same quarter of prior fiscal year.
The decline in profit was attributable to unfavorable currency translation effects, higher selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses and the tsunami and earthquake in Japan. These more than offset the positive impact from cost reduction measures, lower R&D expenses, increase in sales volume (except in the Automobile segment) and model mix and operating income related to licensing agreements.
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