Nissan expects emerging markets to push profits

Nissan Motor Co, Japan's No 3 automaker, forecast a 12 per cent rise in operating profit this year as it prepares an aggressive drive into emerging markets such as India with a new global compact car.

For the year to March 31, 2011, Nissan, held 43 per cent by Renault SA, forecast an operating profit of ¥350 billion ($3.78bn), up from the ¥311.6bn it made last year but lagging a consensus forecast of ¥411bn in a poll of 22 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

It expects net profit to more than treble to ¥150bn.

Operating profit in the final, January-March quarter was ¥82.7bn, compared with a loss of ¥230.4bn a year earlier, when the economic crisis hammered sales, forcing the industry to scale back production.

The result was in line with the consensus estimate of ¥90bn. Nissan posted a fourth-quarter net loss of ¥11.6bn versus a loss of ¥276.9bn a year ago.

While Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co have benefited from their lead in fuel-efficient hybrid models in mature markets, Nissan has grown faster in China and Europe, where drivers still prefer cheap, conventional internal combustion engine cars.

Shares in Nissan have fallen about 7 per cent in the year to date, about double the fall in Tokyo's transport sector subindex.