Nissan Motor Co. on Friday posted consolidated net losses of 27.7 billion yen on group sales of 6.58 trillion yen in fiscal 1998.

In addition, consolidated pretax profits at the troubled automaker increased 99.4 percent to 24.5 billion yen from the previous year.

The nation's No. 2 auto manufacturer also predicted net losses of 60 billion yen for the current fiscal year on group sales of 6.3 trillion yen.

If the projection proves right, it will be the seventh time in eight years for Nissan's net income to finish in the red, the exception being fiscal 1996.

Profitability of Nissan's overseas operations appeared to be improving in fiscal 1998, except in Mexico, according to officials.

Operations in North America, which recorded huge net losses of 80 billion yen in fiscal 1997, generated net profits of 5 billion yen for fiscal 1998.

In total, net income from overseas business improved from net losses of 40 billion yen in fiscal 1997 to profits of 7 billion yen in fiscal 1998.

Nissan's newly formed strategic alliance with French automaker Renault SA is expected to have little impact in the current fiscal year except in the reduction of interest-bearing debts through Renault's capital injection, Nissan officials said.

They noted that strategic projects such as sharing vehicle platforms will take time to show up on the bottom line.

With more than 640 billion yen from Renault, net interest-bearing debt of Nissan's automobile business, which stood at 2.3 trillion yen in fiscal 1997, will be reduced to 1.3 trillion yen at the end of fiscal 1999, Nissan officials predicted.

Nissan sold 861,000 automobiles on the domestic market during fiscal 1998, down 10.9 percent, but retained market share of 20.4 percent, the same level as the previous year.

For fiscal 1999, Nissan projects sales of 830,000 units in Japan, down 3.6 percent from fiscal 1998, and market share of 20.5 percent, up 0.1 percentage point.