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UPDATE 1-Nissan shares gain after profit rise report

(Adds analysts comments)

TOKYO, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Shares of Nissan Motor Co climbed higher on Monday after a weekend media report said Japan's third-largest automaker expects to report a 48 percent jump in group operating profit for the half year to September.

The Nihon Keizai reported that Nissan is expected to post an operating profit of about 280 billion yen ($2.34 billion) in the first half from brisk sales of new models in Japan and its popular Altima sedan in the United States.

But the rise in its share price was roughly in line with gains made by other leading automakers as well as the overall market, with analysts saying the newspaper appeared to have just divided Nissan's own estimate in two.

Some analysts said the operating profit figure was a little more aggressive than their own but not enough to revise up their forecasts.

At 0500 GMT, Nissan's shares were up 2.61 percent at 903 yen, slightly higher than a 2.2 percent gain in the key Nikkei average and a 2.32 percent rise in Toyota Motor Corp , Japan's top automaker.

"These are the newspaper's own estimates," Nissan spokesman Toru Ishikawa said when asked about the report.

"The first half is not yet complete, so it would be too early to release any sort of figures."

The carmaker, 44.4 percent owned by France's Renault SA , is expected to record about 3.2 trillion yen in sales, up seven percent on the year, the paper said.

Nissan, which does not give half-year estimates, said it plans to announce its first-half results in October.

For the full business year ending next March, the company has forecast record operating profit of 553 billion yen, up 13 percent, helped by the introduction of 12 new models, on revenues of 6.5 trillion yen.

Most analysts, pleased by its strong product pipeline, expect the automaker to outdo its estimates, with forecasts as high as 600 billion to 650 billion yen.

"The key issue is product, and what will happen with the new models like the Cube, the Murano SUV and the 350Z. But they have a strong product line through this fiscal year and the next," said Stephen Usher, auto analyst at JP Morgan.

After implementing an aggressive restructuring plan, which included plant closures and drastic job cuts, Nissan is looking at this year as the first of three years of aggressive product-driven growth.

Despite the yen's rise in recent months to a high of 115 yen to the dollar, the export-driven automaker last month said it would stick to its estimate for the current business year.

Nissan said in June that it would pay a mid-term dividend of four yen per share, the first mid-year payout since the 1997/98 business year.