Nissan outlook brighter after profit
Wednesday, 4 November 2009 08:22Japanese car maker Nissan has slashed its full-year loss forecast after eking out a profit in the first half of its financial year. It was helped by rising sales in China and government subsidies for fuel-efficient cars.
Japan's number three car maker, in which France's Renault has a 44% stake, joins rival Honda in upgrading its outlook for the rest of the year.
Nissan, which is axing 20,000 jobs to cope with the global economic crisis, made a net profit of 9 billion yen (€68m) for the six months to September. While earnings were sharply lower than the year-earlier profit of 126.3 billion yen, the company managed to avoid a feared loss.
'We continue to operate in an environment that is volatile and uncertain,' said Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn, who also heads Renault. He said the first-half performance was encouraging, but added that the outlook would remain cautious until there was evidence that economic recovery could be sustained.
Nissan cut its net loss forecast for the year to March 2010 to 40 billion yen, from an earlier prediction of 170 billion yen. The previous year it had plunged 233.7 billion yen into the red - its first annual loss in almost a decade.
Japanese car makers have taken a heavy blow from the global economic downturn, which has caused sales to plunge.
