Ghosn gives Nissan’s performance a “satisfactory,” does not expect a whole lot of growth this year

Carlos Ghosn 05122014 - Picture courtesy Bertel Schmitt

If you went to Nissan’s annual result press conference in Yokohama today, expecting that the company would repeat the performance of Honda and Toyota, who saw their profits shoot up, propelled by a softer yen, you were disappointed. Even CEO Carlos Ghosn wasn’t happy, giving the results a mere “satisfactory,” while saying that they “do not yet reflect Nissan’s actual potential.”

Nissan’s net income rose 4.4 percent in the January-March quarter. For the full fiscal year ending March 31, net profits are up 13.6 percent to $3.88 billion.

For the current year, Nissan shares the cautionary outlook of its Japanese peers. It expects net income to rise another 4 percent, if sales rise 8.9 percent as budgeted.

It is interesting to see the assumptions Nissan’s number crunchers made about the overall performance of key markets in the next 12 months. They expect the Japanese market to go down 14 percent. The U.S. market is expected to add only 1.6 percent in growth, whereas the Chinese market is expected to rise 6.4 %

Nissan unit volume projections
FY 2014
Units (million) YoY
Global 84.42 1.60%
Japan 4.89 -14.10%
China 22.07 6.40%
U.S.A. 15.90 1.60%
EUR 17.72 1.30%
Other 20.93 1.10%
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