Nissan expects 38% full-year profit rise on stronger sales outlook

By Daniel Leussink

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s Nissan (OTC:) Motor Co on Thursday said it expects profit to rise 38% this year on a better outlook for sales, a rosier prospect for the automaker after years of setbacks that included a strained alliance with partner Renault SA (OTC:).

The two car companies are now retooling their decades-old automaking partnership, dismantling much of the work of former chairman Carlos Ghosn, whose arrest and subsequent flight from Japan thrust Nissan into its recent years of turmoil.

Nissan sees operating profit rising to 520 billion yen ($3.85 billion) in the financial year that started last month, compared with an average profit forecast of 396.21 billion yen in a poll of 19 analysts by Refinitiv. It also shows significant jump over a 377 billion yen profit in the year just ended.

The improved sales outlook is driven by expectations to sell 29% more cars in North America, or 1.32 million vehicles, and 27% more in Europe. In China, the outlook is more modest, with Nissan expecting volumes to rise 8% to 1.1 million vehicles.

The company has to speed up the way it designs, manufactures and sells cars in China, Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta told a briefing.

Like other global automakers, Nissan has been seeking to regain its footing in key market China, where it has faced growing competition from home-grown auto companies.

Nissan is developing growth plans in areas such as software and electric vehicles (EVs) independent of Renault (EPA:), sources have said, as the two companies work to finalise the terms of their rebalanced alliance by mid-year.

Nissan’s operating profit for the three months ended on March 31 came to 87.4 billion yen, versus the 89.81 billion yen average forecast in a poll of 11 analysts. It also compares to a 56 billion yen profit in the same period a year earlier.

($1 = 135.0500 yen)