Nissan Annual Net Profit to Fall 15% After Quake

Japan's Nissan Motor said its annual net profit will fall 15 percent year-on-year after the March earthquake hit output, while it also struggles with high raw material costs and a strong yen.

The nation's number two carmaker said despite lower profits, it saw global sales rising 9.9 percent in the year to a record 4.6 million units, with full production returning in October after parts shortages caused by the quake.

"Continuous growth in 2011 will bring Nissan a new record volume," company President and CEO Carlos Ghosn said in a statement.

The 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami on March 11 destroyed entire towns, left 23,000 dead or missing and crippled electricity-generating facilities, including a nuclear power plant at the center of an ongoing atomic crisis.

Japanese firms were hit hard by power and chronic parts supply shortages, with the likes of Nissan, Toyota and Honda having to sharply cut production and shut plants due to a lack of crucial components.

Nissan, which is 44.3 percent owned by French partner Renault, is the third of Japan's big three automakers to give a forecast after firms delayed estimates as they assessed the full impact of the disasters on their business.

Honda last week said it expected net profit to tumble 64 percent this fiscal year compared with last year, due to the impact of the quake-tsunami and a strong yen.

Rival Toyota earlier this month said it expected net profit in this fiscal year to drop 31 percent on-year to $3.5 billion for the same reasons.

Japanese automakers have also been hit by the rise of the yen against the dollar and euro, which erodes repatriated earnings and makes domestic production of cars sold in territories with weaker currencies expensive.

The Japanese unit surged to a post-war high of 76.25 against the dollar following the earthquake, prompting a rare G7 currency market intervention.

Nissan's forecast for the year ending March 2012 follows last year's annual net profit of 319.2 billion yen ($3.9 billion) in the year in which it began selling its all-electric Leaf car in Japan, the United States and some parts of Europe.

Nissan said it expected an operating profit of 460 billion yen, 14 percent lower than last year's 537 billion yen.

Shares in the automaker closed up 1.32 percent at 839 yen in Tokyo trade ahead of the announcement.