Despite Surge in Sales, Nissan Earnings Slip

Nissan reported a 0.6% drop in profit for the latest quarter on Thursday despite surging sales. The decline was largely because of a one-time asset gain that had lifted earnings the previous year.

Nissan has made a startling comeback from near-bankruptcy under Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn, sent by Renault when it took a stake in the company in 1999. Ghosn also serves as chief executive of Renault.

In the latest quarter, Nissan has seen growing sales in all major markets, especially in the U.S., Europe and China.

Group net profit for the October-to-December period at Nissan Motor Co. totaled 135 billion yen ($1.1 billion), inching up from 134.2 billion yen a year earlier. Sales for the quarter jumped 10% to 2.3 trillion yen ($20 billion).

Japan’s No. 2 automaker said currency fluctuations also hurt profit because it had hedged for a higher yen. The yen plunged during that period. A weaker yen generally is a plus for Japanese exporters like Nissan.

Nissan said it sold 819,000 vehicles worldwide in the latest quarter, up 0.4%.

Nissan is maintaining its forecast for a sixth straight year of record earnings for the fiscal year through March.