Nissan posts narrow profit for fiscal year, beats analysts’ estimates

YOKOHAMA, Japan, May 13 (Reuters) – Nissan on Wednesday reported an operating profit of 58.0 billion yen ($367.60 million) for the year that ended in March, as an improved cost performance and a one-off boost tied to U.S. emissions regulations offset a hit from Washington’s tariffs.

Analysts, according to an LSEG survey, expected the automaker to report a fiscal year loss of 60 billion yen. In the year-earlier period, it posted a profit of 69.8 billion yen.

Nissan, like other carmakers, faces pressure from U.S. tariffs, intense competition from Chinese electric vehicle makers in Europe and elsewhere, as well as higher material costs and supply risks from the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

CEO Ivan Espinosa is trying to return the automaker to growth after years of turmoil and is cutting jobs, manufacturing sites and the number of cars in its global line-up.

The results were slightly better than the company’s forecast for a 50 billion yen profit that was released about two weeks ago.

The company said U.S. tariffs pushed down the full-year profit by 286 billion yen.

For the current fiscal year, Nissan expects to report an operating profit of 200 billion yen.

($1 = 157.7800 yen)

(Reporting by Daniel Leussink, Editing by Louise Heavens and Thomas Derpinghaus)