Nissan's quarterly profit rose nearly 8%, but the Japanese car maker lowered its full-year forecasts today because of a sales slump in China and weakness in Europe.
Nissan reported a net profit of 106 billion yen ($1.3 billion) for the three months from July to October.
Quarterly sales improved 5.5% to 2.4 trillion yen ($30 billion).
Anti-Japanese sentiment has flared recently in China over a group of tiny islands controlled by Japan but also claimed by Beijing, setting off a boycott of Japanese products.
Nissan's sales are also being hit by an economic slowdown in Europe.
Nissan said it now expects a 320 billion yen ($4 billion) profit for the business year ending March 2013, down 6% from 341 billion the year before. It had previously expected to rake in 400 billion yen ($5 billion) in net profit for the year.
It lowered its vehicle sales forecast as well, to 5.08 million vehicles from 5.35 million vehicles. But that is still better than the 4.85 million vehicles it sold the previous year, when like other Japanese car makers Nissan was devastated by the parts supply disruptions caused by the earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan.
Chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga said Nissan lost sales of 175,000 vehicles in China that had been in the initial sales forecast, but he said the company remains committed to China.
Nissan is not planning any major changes in its long-term growth plans in China, but it will weigh future investments cautiously, he said. Nissan has been a strong player in China, with a lineup of popular trucks and cars, and so it has been hit harder than Japanese rival Toyota., a relative latecomer to the Chinese market.
Toyota raised its full-year profit forecast yesterday, although it did lower its vehicle sales forecast slightly to account for the China sales plunge.
''Nissan has produced solid results despite the harsh conditions," Shiga told reporters. The company said said its vehicle sales grew in the US, Indonesia and India for the July-September quarter compared with a year earlier.
Nissan lowered its sales forecast for the full fiscal year to 9.82 trillion yen ($123 billion) from 10.3 trillion yen ($129 billion). The new forecast represents a 4.3% improvement on the previous year.
"Despite these near-term challenges, Nissan has responded decisively and remains on course to deliver profitable growth in its full-year performance," said President and chief executive Carlos Ghosn.
