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Revamping Nissan posts record H1 profit

TOKYO: Nissan Motor Co has posted record net and operating profits for the first half of its current business year, boosted by aggressive cost-cutting efforts and favourable currency rates.
In line with preliminary numbers announced in October, the automaker reported yesterday its consolidated operating profit for the April–September period climbed 41% to 188.78 billion yen (US$1.54bil) from the previous year.

Net profit jumped 34% to 230.30 billion yen with earnings per share at 57.95 yen compared with 43.45 yen a year earlier.

The biggest factor boosting operating profit was a 101-billion-yen reduction in the cost of purchasing parts, Nissan said. After that, the weaker yen contributed 68 billion yen, offsetting a 61- billion-yen decline in vehicle sales.

Nissan, which is 37% owned by France's Renault SA and is in the second year of a drastic three-year restructuring plan, also kept its full-year forecast for a 21% rise to 350 billion yen in operating profit. Net profit was seen mostly stable at 330 billion yen, a decline of 0.3% compared with the previous year.

Nissan’s full-year net income probably would not match the expected rise in operating profit largely due to a slowdown in asset sales compared with a year earlier, analysts said.

Last month, Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn said the company would have revised its forecasts upwards but for market uncertainty following the Sept 11 terrorist attacks on the US.

In the first half, sales came to 2.977 trillion yen, down 1.4% from the previous year with the automaker hampered by a lack of new models. Nissan expects its global vehicle sales for the full year to next March to fall 2.3% to 2.57 million units.

After two years of concentrating on its cost-cutting drive, it has targeted the next business year for a big push into volume growth with the launch of 13 new models.

source: thestar.com: Nov. 20, 2001