Car makers signal drop in profits after Japan quake
CAR makers are revealing the financial impact of the Japanese disaster, with France’s Peugeot Citroen warning of a profit dip and Japan’s Nissan posting a 10 per cent profit fall.
The earthquake and tsunami that struck in March led to global supply problems in the automotive industry.
Peugeot, Europe’s second-biggest car maker, said it cars division would take a €300m (£265m) hit in the second half from the disaster plus rising costs for raw materials.
Nissan, Japan’s second-biggest car maker, posted an operating profit of 150.37bn yen (£1.18bn) for the April to June quarter, down 10.4 per cent year-on-year, but ahead of forecasts.
Nissan kept its forecasts for operating profit at 460bn yen and 270bn yen for the full year to March 2012.
Peugeot said group recurring operating profit would still be higher than last year’s level for the year as a whole – helped by a productivity improvement plan.