Nissan in rude health, reports net income of Rs 335,571 crore in H1, FY2015

Nissan Motor Co has announced first-half fiscal year financial results for the six-month period ended September 30, 2015. The company has reported sharply increased operating profit and solid revenue growth. Strong demand for new products in North America and Western Europe, combined with the benefits of continued cost discipline and the yen correction against the US dollar, offset declining market conditions in Japan and several emerging markets.

Operating profit rose to 395 billion yen (Rs 22,167 crore) for the period, representing a 6.7% margin on net revenues that climbed 15.3% to 5.93 trillion yen (Rs 335,571 crore) for the period.

“Nissan has delivered solid revenue growth and improved profitability in the first-half of the fiscal year, driven by encouraging demand for our vehicles in North America and a rebound in Western Europe, which compensated for market volatility elsewhere,” said Carlos Ghosn, president and chief executive officer.

On a management pro forma basis, which includes the proportional consolidation of results from Nissan’s joint venture operation in China, net revenue for the period increased to 6.45 trillion yen, up 14.4% year-on-year. Operating profit was up 38.8% versus the same period last year, to 461.6 billion yen, resulting in a 7.2% operating profit margin.

Nissan sold 2.62 million vehicles globally during the period, a 1.3% rise year-on-year.

The sales and earnings improvement followed strong growth in North America, particularly for the Altima sedan and Rogue SUV, and encouraging demand in Western Europe for models including the X-Trail and Qashqai. In China, nine-month passenger vehicle unit sales rose by 9.5% to 722,000 units. Despite slower demand in Japan and several emerging markets, the company continued to benefit from robust overall sales of award-winning models derived from the Common Module Family, developed within the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

Nissan also remained the world-leader in electric vehicles, with cumulative sales approaching 200,000 units. As part of its zero-emission strategy, the company announced in September that its best-selling all-electric Nissan Leaf will be available with a new, larger 30 kWh battery that delivers a more-than-20-percent-longer driving range between charges.

FY2015 Outlook

“We are increasing our financial forecast for the full year as our product offensive, our continued financial discipline and the ongoing benefits of our Alliance strategy is delivering better than expected results,” said Ghosn.