Nissan Motor Co. reported Tuesday another year-on-year drop in consolidated operating profit for the first quarter of fiscal 2007, mainly due to falling sales of trucks in the United States and rising raw material costs.
During the April-June quarter, Nissan's operating profit fell 3.2 percent from the previous year to 148.4 billion yen.
The weaker yen helped elevate Nissan's operating profit by 20 billion yen, but higher raw material prices forced the automaker to pay over 30 billion yen more than the previous year, the firm said.
"In addition to the rising costs for raw materials, customers preferred smaller cars with lower profit margin, causing our profitability to deteriorate," Nissan Corporate Vice President Joji Tagawa told a news conference at the head office in Tokyo.
Net profit fell 16.2 percent to 92.3 billion yen, while sales totaled 2.45 trillion yen, up 10.7 percent.
The decline in net profit stemmed from the adjustment for corporate tax payments for the previous year, which Nissan described as a one-time payment only affecting the first quarter.
Globally, Nissan sold 875,000 vehicles, up 5.9 percent year on year. While domestic sales dropped 6.3 percent from the previous year to 151,000 units, sales in the United States, Europe and other overseas markets grew.
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