• Profit decline was mainly due to weak sales in the United States as well as Japan
• Bottom-line profit now forecast to be ¥65 billion for the fiscal year to March 2020

YOKOHAMA, Japan: Crisis-hit Japanese automaker Nissan said Thursday its net profit plunged more than 87 percent for the nine months to December as it struggles with weak demand and fallout from the arrest of former boss Carlos Ghosn.

Nissan revised downwards its full-year sales and profit forecasts but warned that the impact from the spreading coronavirus crisis was not yet included in their figures.

Net profit for April-December dropped 87.6 percent to ¥39.3 billion ($358 million), on sales down 12.5 percent at ¥7.5 trillion for the period.

The profit decline was mainly due to weak sales in the United States as well as Japan, where the impact of the nation’s sales tax hike hit auto demand, the company said in a statement.

Nissan, which downgraded annual forecasts three months ago, said its bottom-line profit was now forecast to be ¥65 billion for the fiscal year to March 2020, compared with an earlier estimate of ¥110 billion.

Full-year sales are estimated at ¥10.2 trillion, down from a previous forecast of ¥10.6 trillion.

It was Nissan’s first earnings announcement since Ghosn dramatically jumped bail and fled Japan, where he was awaiting trial on financial misconduct charges.

AFP