Reduced costs and an improved model line-up helped Mitsubishi reverse last year’s loss to post a net profit in the nine months to 31 December 2011.
The company reported a JPY13.6bn (US$179m) net profit for the April-December term, turning around a loss of JPY2.2bn a year previously. Operating profit tripled to JPY38.5bn.
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“The increase was despite sales slipping 1.4% to JPY1.29 trillion although there were rises in Russia, Brazil and other emerging markets,” the automaker said.
The fall in revenue was due to the temporary halt of production in Thailand caused by last year’s floods and the negative impact of further strengthening of the yen.
The currency rose to its highest level since World War II against the dollar in the last quarter, reducing the value of repatriated export income and making Japanese products more expensive overseas.
Mitsubishi has maintained its earnings forecast for the full year to March while lowering a sales volume estimate by 19,000 units to 1.01m units. It expects JPY20bn in net profit and JPY50bn in operating profit on sales of JPY1.82 trillion.
