Nissan Motor Co, Japan’s No. 3 automaker, announced its first annual loss in almost a decade yesterday and said it expected to stay in the red this year because of slumping sales.
Nissan, which is 44 percent owned by France’s Renault, logged a net loss of ¥233.7 billion (US$2.4 billion) in the year to March, against a year-earlier profit of ¥482.3 billion.
It is the automaker’s first loss since the fiscal year 1999 when chief executive Carlos Ghosn was parachuted in by Renault to rescue the company from the brink of bankruptcy.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Nissan’s annual sales fell 9.5 percent to 3.41 million vehicles in the last business year to March
“The global economic recession and financial crisis continue, but we are beginning to see some signs of improved access to credit, the impact of government stimulus packages and a gradual return in consumer confidence,” Ghosn said.
“We remain cautious about the economic environment and fully focused on our company’s recovery efforts,” he said.
Nissan expects a net loss of ¥170 billion for the current business year to March.
“We are preparing ourselves to be back to profit, in the worst case, by 2010,” said Ghosn, who also heads Renault.
Meanwhile, Mazda Motor Corp sank to a loss for the fiscal year ended March, as the Japan’s fifth biggest automaker reported a ¥52.1 billion loss for the fiscal year ended March 31, as sales plunged 27 percent to ¥2.536 trillion.
A year earlier, Mazda had reported a ¥65.2 billion profit.
Mazda said it expected to stay in the red for the fiscal year through March 2010 with a ¥50 billion loss on ¥2.030 trillion sales.
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