Nissan sales increase by 3.99 million units, posts 503.2bn yen profit in 2016

Nissan Motor Co has announced its financial results for the nine-month period to December 31, 2016 in which the Japanese auto giant posted a unit sales increased by 2.6% to 3.99 million units in 2016

In the U.S., Nissan’s sales rose by 4.2% to 1.16 million units, equivalent to a market share of 8.7%, amid strong demand for the Rogue and Altima.

Nissan unit sales in China, which reports figures on a calendar year basis, rose 8.2% to 929,000 units, equivalent to market share of 5.0%. In Europe, excluding Russia, Nissan’s sales rose by 5.5% to 474,000 units, which resulted in a market share of 3.6%. The Qashqai SUV and X-Trail helped drive demand in the region.

Nissan’s performance in these key markets helped offset challenging conditions in the Japanese market. Total unit sales in the nine-month period for Japan were 344,000 units, representing a market share of 9.8%. In other markets including Asia and Oceania, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, Nissan’s sales decreased 3.9% to 596,000 units.

“We expect to deliver solid earnings and strong free cash flow generation for Fiscal Year 2016,” said Mr. Ghosn. “The Board remains committed to increasing the full year dividend by 14.3% to 48 yen per share.”

The Company expects to sell 5.6 million units this fiscal year, up 3.3% on fiscal 2015. Based on this sales outlook, Nissan has maintained forecasts first issued to the Tokyo Stock Exchange in May 2016. Calculated under the equity accounting method for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017, the forecasts showed

In the released financial statement, Nissan generated an operating profit of 503.2 billion yen, which represents a 6.1% margin on net revenues of 8.26 trillion yen.

“On a constant currency basis, operating profit rose 30.1% to 764.6 billion yen, equivalent to an 8.1% profit margin. Our underlying performance was enhanced by solid product demand in the US, China and Western Europe, along with the continued benefits of our strict cost controls and synergies from our Alliance strategy, says Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of Nissan