The Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. announced their financial results for the fiscal year 2006, ending March 31, 2007. The Japanese automaker's announcement is made to increase transparency and consistency.
The third largest Japanese automaker has filed the results with the Tokyo Stock Exchange. According to the report, the automaker has net revenues of 10.4686 trillion yen or $89.48 billion, operating profit of 776.9 billion yen or $6.64 billion, euro 5.25 billion, ordinary profit of 761.1 billion yen or $6.51 billion, consolidated income of 460.8 billion yen or $3.94 billion, and an operating profit margin of 7.4 percent.
Nissan also is harmonizing calendar-year results for overseas subsidiaries such as Europe and Mexico with fiscal-year results for Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. The exceptions include China and Taiwan, the territories where fiscal-period accounting is prohibited by law.
The process was done by including an extra quarter of results from January to March for those subsidiaries formerly consolidated on a calendar-year basis. Adding these fifth quarter results in a one-time positive impact to fiscal 2006 results of 767.6 billion yen or $6.56 billion in revenues, 21.4 billion yen or $0.18 billion in operating profits, and 11.6 billion yen or $0.10 billion to the bottom line net income.
On comparable annual periods, the Japanese automaker's sales were 3,483,000 units, down 2.4 percent. In the United States, sales were at 1,035,000 units, down 4.0 percent. In Japan, sales were at 740,000 units, down 12.1 percent. In Europe, sales came to 540,000 units, down by 0.2 percent. Additionally, sales in General Overseas Markets were 1,168,000 units, up by 5.1 percent.
Nissan will propose a 17-yen-per-share year-end dividend at the company's annual shareholders' meeting this June, for a full-year dividend of 34 yen per share for fiscal 2006, as committed.
"2006 did not boost our results towards achieving the objectives of Nissan Value-Up," said Nissan President and CEO, Carlos Ghosn. "However, we believe that the commitments are within the potential of the company and we remain focused to deliver them completely. Accordingly, we have decided to extend the period for delivering all the Nissan Value-Up commitments by one year."
Ghosn intimated that tangible progress had been made on the four key breakthroughs in Nissan Value-Up. The Infiniti luxury brand continues to expand globally with its introduction to Russia in 2006, into China and Ukraine in 2007 and across Western Europe during 2008. and other auto parts of the luxury brand is gradually etching a solid foundation in the industry.
The Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) sales have increased by 57 percent worldwide to 490,000 units compared to the start of Nissan Value-Up. The LCV business of the automaker is now generating a consolidated operating profit margin of over eight percent. The automaker said it will continue to improve its overall cost competitiveness. Fifteen percent of global sourcing is made in Leading Competitive Countries (LCC) like the ASEAN, China, Mexico, and Eastern Europe, compared to the twelve percent in the previous year.
Commenting on the outlook for the 2007 fiscal year, Ghosn said this year will be a better year for Nissan than 2006. Nonetheless, increasing raw material costs, energy prices, interest rates, high level of incentives, fluctuating foreign exchange rates, and a growing number of distressed suppliers and competitors, would linger as business risks for this year.
The Japanese automaker also will continue to invest massively for its future within a clearly established long-term strategy. The endeavor will cover the research and development of breakthrough technologies and innovative products. This year, Nissan will launch eleven brand new worldwide. These products include the Livina, X-TRAIL, Altima coupe, Infiniti G37 coupe, Rogue, GT-R, Infiniti EX luxury crossover, single and double-cab Atlas truck, entry-level sedan for Mexico, Murano and a single-cab version of the Frontier-Navara pickup truck.
