Troubled Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) has reported that its fiscal year 2016 (year ended March 31, 2017) result was a net loss of 198.5 billion yen, compared to prior year’s profit of 72.6 billion yen.
The company was hit by a fuel economy scandal in Japan last year.
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The company reported an operating profit of 5.1 billion yen on revenues of 1.9 trillion yen for fiscal 2016, representing an operating margin of 0.3%.
MMC said the full-year figures reflect a sharp recovery in the second-half, after the company reversed the 31.6 billion yen operating loss reported in the six months to September 30 by delivering a 36.7 billion yen operating profit in the subsequent six-month period on revenues of 1.04 trillion yen, representing an operating margin of 3.5%.
Osamu Masuko, President, Chief Executive Officer, said: “Mitsubishi Motors saw a stronger performance in the second-half of fiscal 2016, which enabled us to report a full-year net operating profit. Although our 12-month results were marred by the fuel economy scandal in Japan during the first half, we have begun a V-shaped recovery. Following the strategic investment by Nissan last fall, we are now seeing the initial benefits of our partnership and the first synergies from our membership of the wider Renault-Nissan Alliance.”
Global sales volume in Fiscal Year 2016 declined 12% year-on-year to 926,000 units. Unit sales recovered in the second half of the year in Japan – partly reflecting the resumption of Kei-car sales – and reached the planned volume in almost all other regions.
The full-year net revenues for Fiscal Year 2016 decreased 16% year-on-year to 1.9 trillion yen.
Unit sales recovered in the second half of the year in Japan – partly reflecting the resumption of Kei-car sales – and reached the planned volume in almost all other regions, MMC said.
FY2017 outlook
MMC forecast that its global sales in Fiscal Year 2017 would increase by 11% year-on-year to 1.029 million units. It said that sales are ‘expected to be enhanced by new product launches including the “Eclipse Cross”, a technically-advanced compact SUV, and new “compact MPVs” to be manufactured at the company’s recently inaugurated plant in Indonesia’.
Sales in China are expected to benefit from increased production capacity at MMC’s joint venture in the country and an enhanced Chinese dealer network. A continued recovery in Japan since the latter half of Fiscal 2016 is also likely to support overall growth, the company said.
Net sales are projected to rise 5% year-on-year to 2 trillion yen in FY2017. MMC expects to achieve operating profits of 70 billion yen, representing a 3.5% operating margin. Net income is forecast to be 68 billion yen, which implies a recovery to the levels reported in Fiscal Year 2015.
