Nissan Quarterly Profit Jumps 78 Percent

Nissan reported a 78 percent jump in quarterly profit and raised its full-year forecasts Wednesday as vehicle sales grew in North America, Europe and Asia, offsetting a weak performance in Japan.

Nissan's October-December net profit totaled 80.07 billion Yen ($976.4 million), up from 44.97 billion Yen a year earlier. Sales for its fiscal third quarter rose 5.3 percent to 2.103 trillion Yen ($25.6 billion).

Nissan Motor Co., which became Japan's No. 2 automaker last year, overtaking Honda Motor Co., remained upbeat after the better-than-expected performance.

The maker of the Leaf electric car, March subcompact and Infiniti luxury models now expects 315 billion Yen ($3.8 billion) in profit for the year through March. That would mark a more than sevenfold surge from the previous fiscal year.

Yokohama-based Nissan had previously forecast an annual profit of 270 billion Yen ($3.3 billion).

"Our financial results are evidence that Nissan continues to deliver solid performance," said Nissan President and Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn.

The good news for Nissan came from its aggressive push for growth in fast-growing markets such as India and China. But it was also able to boost sales in more established markets like North America and Europe. Only Japan proved to be a weak spot.

Ghosn acknowledged rising material costs and a strong Yen, which erodes the value of overseas earnings for Japanese exporters, remained risks in the months ahead.

Nissan raised its vehicle sales forecast for the full year to 4.165 million vehicles from 4.1 million vehicles. The latest forecast would mark a 19 percent increase from 3.5 million the previous fiscal year.

Nissan — 43 percent owned by its 12-year alliance partner Renault SA of France — also raised its sales forecast for the fiscal year to 8.8 trillion Yen ($107.3 billion) from 8.77 trillion Yen ($107 billion), and higher than the 7.5 trillion Yen reported in the previous year.

"We will continue to deliver good results while remaining focused on our strategies to pursue profitable growth," said Ghosn, also chief executive at Renault.

For the latest quarter, Nissan sales improved in almost all major regions, except for Japan, where the end of government-backed incentives for green cars crimped sales.

The fall in Japan sales as well as an unfavorable exchange rate were partly behind Nissan's October-December operating profit falling 15 percent. The dollar now trades at about 82 Yen, down from about 90 Yen a year ago.