Nissan cuts profits forecast as global car sales fall

Japanese car giant Nissan has taken a ¥9.2bn (£65m) charge and slashed full-year profit forecasts as it continues to manage the fallout from the arrest of former chairman Carlos Ghosn.

Nissan posted its first results on Tuesday since Ghosn, 64, was arrested over alleged financial misconduct in November.

Operating profits in the three months to December rose to ¥103.3bn, a 25% increase year-on-year. But the car maker said it expected full-year operating profit to come in around ¥450bn, down on an earlier forecast for ¥540bn, after global sales fell 2.1% in the first nine-months of the year. Growth in Japan, China and other markets had been “offset by decreases in North America”, Nissan said.

Full-year revenues are now expected to come in around ¥11.6trn, down on ¥12trn previously forecast. Nissan expects to sell around 5.6m cars this year.

The results also detailed a ¥9.2bn charge which Nissan said covered additional expenses linked to payments to Ghosn. The one-time titan of the car industry has been accused of underreporting his pay by about ¥5bn over a four-year period.

Under Ghosn’s lengthy tenure, Nissan formed an alliance with Mitsubishi Motors and France’s Renault to create one of the world’s largest car manufacturers. Since his arrest, however, Ghosn has been sacked by Nissan and resigned from Renault, where he was chairman and chief executive, putting the alliance under severe pressure.