By Satoshi Sugiyama
TOKYO (Reuters) -Nissan Motor Co on Wednesday reported a 45% jump in second-quarter profit and sharply hiked its full-year outlook, helped by cost-cutting, higher-margin sales and a weaker yen.
The upbeat earnings come amid uncertainty over how the Japanese automaker and its partner and top shareholder Renault SA will reshape their alliance.
A day earlier, Renault announced an overhaul of its businesses, agreeing to establish an equally held joint venture with China’s Geely for gasoline engines and hybrid technology and announcing plans to spin off its electric vehicles unit next year.
The French automaker is seeking to convince Nissan to invest in its new electric unit.
Talks with Renault were ongoing and were “open and constructive,” Chief Executive Makoto Uchida told a briefing.
The Japanese automaker reported 91.7 billion yen ($630 million) in operating profit for the three months to end-September. That beat a Refinitiv consensus estimate of 88.2 billion yen profit from 11 analysts.
It raised its full-year operating profit forecast to 360 billion yen from 250 billion yen, exceeding the 335 billion yen average forecast by 21 analysts.
“Global issues such as semiconductor shortages and supply chain disruptions triggered by the pandemic, as well as soaring energy and raw material prices, have had a greater impact on our business than we initially anticipated,” Uchida said.
“However, despite these challenges, our business performance is steadily recovering and exceeding our plans,” he said.
Persistent semiconductor supply disruptions meant Nissan had to temporarily stop taking new orders for two models in Japan last month.
A revamp of the Nissan-Renault alliance is widely expected to result in a reduction of Renault’s stake in Nissan – in line with the Japanese automaker’s wishes for a more equal partnership.
Renault owns 43% of Nissan while Nissan has a 15% non-voting stake in Renault. People with knowledge of the talks have said Renault’s stake could be reduced to 15%.
Nissan is also widely expected to take a stake in Renault’s EV venture, code-named “Ampere”, alongside other investors, though the French automaker will keep a majority stake.
That said, their discussions have taken longer than initially expected due to Nissan’s concerns about how its intellectual property rights can be protected as Renault forges new ties with Geely, sources have told Reuters. ($1 = 145.6700 yen)
(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by David Dolan and Edwina Gibbs)
