TOKYO, May 26 (Reuters) - Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp forecast on Monday a sharp slowdown in profit growth this year as the yen's rise against the dollar and intense competition hit earnings from the key U.S. market.
Japan's fourth-largest automaker, owned 37 percent by DaimlerChrysler AG , said it expected group operating profit to rise 8.7 percent to 90 billion yen ($769.6 million) in the year to next March, in line with with a consensus forecast of 90 billion yen in a survey of 15 brokerages by Reuters Research.
Mitsubishi reported operating profit growth of 105.7 percent in the just-completed financial year.
Analysts have voiced concern about the recent slide in Mitsubishi's sales in the U.S. market -- one of its few sources of profit in the past few years -- where Detroit's 'Big Three' are offering incentives to win market share.
For the year that ended in March, Mitsubishi Motors said cost cuts and robust sales overseas helped operating profit more than double to 82.8 billion yen and net profit to more than triple to a record 37.4 billion yen. The results mirrored revised estimate figures announced a month ago.
The company's shares have lost about four percent in the year to date, compared with a seven percent fall in Tokyo's transport equipment index . ($1=116.94 Yen)