Nissan Motor Co. today announced financial results for the six-month period to 30 September 2016 that showed decreased revenue and operating profit because of the strong Yen. On the so-called “management pro forma basis,” including the results of Nissan’s operations in China, which reports on a calendar year basis, FY16 first half net revenue decreased 9.6% to 5.84 trillion yen. Operating profit fell 10.7% versus the same period last year, to 412.0 billion yen. The operating profit margin fell from 7.2% to 7.1%.
“In the first half, Nissan generated a solid operating profit of 339.7 billion yen, which represents a 6.4% margin on net revenues of 5.32 trillion yen,” said Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “These solid results were achieved despite recent currency headwinds and continued challenges in Japan and emerging-markets.”
Sales performance
- In the first half of the fiscal year, Nissan’s total unit sales were 2.61 million units. In the S., Nissan’s sales rose by 3.7% to 783,000 units, equivalent to a market share of 8.7%, amid strong demand for the Altima, the Rogue and the Maxima.
- Nissan unit sales in China, which reports figures on a calendar year basis, rose 3.8% to 610,000 units, equivalent to market share of 5.0%.
- In Europe, excluding Russia, Nissan’s sales rose by 4.4% to 319,000, which resulted in a market share of 3.6%. The Qashqai SUV and X-Trail helped drive demand in the region.
- In the Japanese market where Nissan was impacted by the suspension of Dayz/Dayz Roox minicar sales, total unit sales in the quarter were 211,000 units, representing a market share of 9.2%.
- In other markets including Asia and Oceania, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, Nissan’s sales decreased 4.9% to 382,000 units.
Outlook
Nissan expects to sell 5.6 million units this fiscal year, up 3.3%. Based on this sales outlook, Nissan has maintained forecasts first issued to the Tokyo Stock Exchange in May 2016.
“Nissan is maintaining its global sales and earnings forecast for fiscal 2016,” said Mr. Ghosn. “Although Nissan faces market uncertainty and currency headwinds, we expect to continue to deliver solid earnings and positive free cash flow generation in the current fiscal year. We can also look forward in fiscal year 2017 to valuable synergies from our alliance with Mitsubishi Motors, in which we recently acquired a 34% stake.”
As announced at the end of the last fiscal year, Nissan decided to increase the full year dividend by 14.3% to 48 yen per share. The Board approved an interim dividend payment of 24 yen per share.
