TOKYO, March 30 (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co expects to post a record group operating profit of 900 billion yen ($8.54 billion) for the year starting April 1 thanks to increased output capacity in North America, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported.
Growing business in China will also contribute to earnings in 2004/05, helping Japan's third-largest auto maker offset the negative impact of a strong yen, the newspaper said on Tuesday.
Consolidated sales are expected to grow about seven percent to eight trillion yen in the next business year, it added.
For the year ending Wednesday, Nissan expects a group operating profit of 820 billion yen on sales of 7.45 trillion.
The paper said Nissan, owned 44.4 percent by France's Renault , expected the dollar/yen exchange rate to average 105 in the coming business year, about nine yen below the average rate in 2003/04.
The business daily said every one yen rise in the dollar's exchange rate wiped about 10 billion yen from Nissan's profit.
It said Nissan's cost cutting and other streamlining efforts should help to offset the impact of the stronger yen as well as the adverse impact of rising prices steel sheet and other materials.
($1=105.45 yen)