Nissan Q3 up on brisk sales, keeps forecasts

Nissan Motor Co posted a 3.6 per cent rise in quarterly operating profit on Wednesday on the back of brisk car sales worldwide and kept its full-year forecasts unchanged at the highest level among Japan's top automakers.

Japan's No.2 automaker earned an operating profit of ¥118.1 billion ($1.54bn) in the October-December quarter, slightly below the average estimate of ¥122.6bn from 10 analysts polled by Reuters. Nissan reports under Japanese accounting standards, with earnings from China included in operating income.

Net profit rose 3.2 per cent to ¥82.67bn.

Among Japan's three leading automakers, Nissan was fastest to recover from both the earthquake last March and flooding in Thailand that disrupted supply chains, swiftly sourcing parts from its global network. The popularity of new models such as the Rogue and Juke crossovers also helped.

For the year to March 31, Nissan kept its operating profit forecast at ¥510bn below the consensus forecast of ¥547bn in a poll of 25 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. It kept its net profit forecast at ¥290bn.

Japanese market leader Toyota has forecast annual net profit of ¥200bn and third-ranked Honda Motor Co has predicted profit of ¥215bn. Both report under US accounting rules, with earnings from China included in net income.