Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) posted net losses for the fiscal fourth quarter and year ended 31 March 2009 but forecast a return to profit in 2009/10.
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For FY 2008/9, it posted an operating profit of JPY3.9bn, a drop of JPY104.7bn over the previous fiscal year on consolidated net sales down 26% to JPY1 trillion.
“Factors behind the drop in net sales include reduced worldwide unit sales and the appreciation of the yen against other world currencies,” MMC said in a statement.
Reduced unit sales and the effects of the strong yen were the principal factors in the lower profit figure but the company managed to stay in the black thanks to company wide cost cutting activities and the benefits stemming from the operational restructuring implemented last fiscal year.
MMC posted an ordinary loss of JPY14.9bn, JPY100.6bn worse than last year, as the drop in operating profit outweighed improvements in net interest and foreign exchange movements.
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By GlobalDataNet loss was 54.9bn yen, 89.6bn yen worse than fiscal 2007. The company booked extraordinary losses which included an impairment loss of 27.5bn yen.
Global retail sales in fiscal 2008 fell 22% to 1,066,000 vehicles. Year on year unit sales were down in all the company’s regional markets.
For the January-March final quarter, it posted an operating loss of JPY16bn compared with a JPY56.62bn profit a year earlier but better than a loss estimate of JPY21.4bn that was the average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
Net loss was JPY50.1bn versus JPY13bn profit in 2008. Extraordinary losses of 27.5bn yen booked for 2008/09 included impairments, mainly at the US unit due to the unlikely prospect of recovery in overall demand in the market.
Revenue fell 57% to 315.4bn yen, as global production fell 59%.
Six analysts had forecast on average an operating loss of 43bn yen for the year, and Mitsubishi Motors’ shares rose 3.4% to JPY154 in Tokyo after the news, Reuters said.
MMC has forecast global unit sales of 932,000 vehicles for fiscal 2009, 13% or 134,000 units fewer than fiscal 2008, as it expects the current difficult global market climate to continue.
The automaker said it would continue cutting costs and expenses to a level matching its current net sales and has targeted at least JPY150bn by measures including cutting sales and marketing expenses, benefiting from falling raw material prices and by reducing labour costs and streamlining of overseas subsidiaries.
MMC has forecast an operating profit of JPY30bn, a year on year improvement of JPY26.1bn, an ordinary profit of JPY15bn yen, up JPY29.9bn, and full year net profit of JPY5bn, a JPY59.9bn gain.
“We will make every effort to improve our earnings performance by cutting costs to a level that is equal with net sales,” Shuichi Aoto, director of corporate planning, told a news conference.
