Operating profit at Mazda, 33.4% owned by Ford, for the first half of fiscal year 2008 was down 17% year on year to JPY60.7bn but JPY10.7bn yen better than originally forecast at the beginning of the year.
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The decline was due to the impact of the stronger yen against key currencies and material price hikes which exceeded volume and model mix improvements.
Ordinary profit was down 16% to JPY48.5bn but consolidated net income was up 2% to JPY29.5bn.
First-half global sales were up 6% to 701,000 units.
Consolidated sales revenue was down 5% to JPY1,575.5bn due to a change in accounting standards and the impact of exchange rates.
Retail sales volumes improved year-on-year in Europe, China and in other regions but were flat in Japan
North America sales fell 6% year on year to 200,000 units but market share improved 0.1 points, to 1.9%.
Europe first-half sales rose 17% to 179,000 units and China sales were up 53% to 63,000 units. Sales in other markets rose 5% to 136,000 units.
Mazda CFO, David Friedman, said: “We expect the third quarter and onward to present a challenging business environment.”
The automaker has revised its full year forecast downward, reflecting a slowdown in global sales and material price hikes.
Global sales volume was revised down to 1,405,000 units, mainly reflecting downward revisions to the sales plan in China and for all major markets except Europe. Sales revenue is projected to be 3 trillion yen, down 14% compared to FY2007. Operating profit is forecast to decrease 44% to YPY90bn and net income is projected to be down 46% to JPY50bn yen, down 46%.
Hedging for the third quarter and onward has already been mostly completed, so the outlook is for minimal impact of future exchange rate fluctuations on ordinary profit and net income.
