Nissan Motor (NSANY) , Japan's second-largest automaker, reported a profit decline due to yen appreciation, which hurt its North American business.
The Yokohama, Japan-based automaker said Thursday net profit dropped 8.5% to ¥414 billion ($3.7 billion) on a 7.6% sales decline to ¥8.3 trillion in the nine months to December. Operating profit fell 14.3% to ¥503 billion.
The results were announced after the market closed in Tokyo on Thursday. Shares closed down 2% at ¥1,109. The stock has advanced 14% over the past three months.
The maker of the Leaf and Note models attributed the slide at the operating level to the impact of the currency exchange rate. The yen appreciated to the ¥100-range against the dollar during the nine months before weakening to the ¥116-range against the dollar at the end of 2016.
Operating profit plunged 92% for businesses in regions including the Pacific region, the Middle East, Latin America, and South Africa, while it dropped 42% for North America, even though sales volume rose 6.2% there. These more than offset a robust performance in Japan, where sales volume fell 10% but operating profit jumped 23%.
Unlike its Japanese rivals, Nissan kept its outlook for the year ending March unchanged. For the full year, the automaker calls for sales of ¥11.8 trillion and operating profit of ¥710 billion, which each represent a 3.2% and 10.5% year on year decline. At the net level, Nissan expects profit to edge up 0.2% to ¥525 billion.
Toyota Motor (TM) and Honda Motor (HMC) recently revised up their profit forecasts citing yen depreciation - Toyota on Monday lifted its net profit outlook from ¥1.7 trillion from ¥1.55 trillion just days after Honda Motor said it sees full-year profits of around ¥785 billion for the fiscal year ending in March, a 27% increase from last year and well ahead of the ¥753 billion tally forecast by analysts.
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