Nissan Motor on Tuesday said it had not yet set profit forecasts for the coming business year, partly due to volatility in the currency markets.
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According to Reuters, the comment followed an unsourced report in the Nihon Keizai business daily that the carmaker was likely to post a record group operating profit of 900 billion yen ($US8.54 billion) in the year from April 1 on the back of increased output capacity in North America.
“We see opportunities for strong growth, especially in the US, but there are also risks, including the currency. We have not chosen our final currency assumption given the volatility of the market at the moment,” Nissan spokesman Gerry Spahn told the news agency.
He reportedly said the business daily’s story was not based on anything that Nissan had said and appeared to be based on estimates from analysts.
Reuters said Nissan is set to unveil new profit forecasts when it announces a three-year business plan on April 26.
For the year that ends on Wednesday, Nissan expects a record group operating profit of 820 billion yen ($7.7 billion) on sales of 7.45 trillion and most analysts are predicting further profit growth next year, the report added.
A Reuters Research average of estimates of 20 analysts put Nissan’s operating profit for the coming year at 919 billion yen although some of those forecasts do not reflect the yen’s recent climb back towards 105 yen against the dollar.
According to Reuters, the Nihon Keizai said Nissan, owned 44.4% by Renault, expected the dollar to average 105 yen in the coming business year, about nine yen below the average rate in 2003-04.
