Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and the 12-month period ended March 31, 2021.
In fiscal year 2020, Nissan has shown quarter by quarter steady recovery through strengthened financial base, improved selling expenses and fixed cost reduction further supported by renewed product lineup.
Nissan managed to grow sales during an unprecedently challenging period. In particular, sales volume in the fourth quarter grew significantly compared to the third quarter.
In addition, Nissan made notable improvements in the quality of sales, optimized sales incentives and reduced inventory while improving revenue per unit, resulting in a significant reduction in operating loss in the fourth quarter compared to the same period last year.
As a result, the company made steady progress towards achieving the goals of Nissan NEXT through the year: to rationalize, to prioritize and focus on Nissan’s strengths, and to build a sustainable foundation for long-term growth.
Nissan delivered more than 350 billion yen in fixed cost reductions, exceeding targeted goal; have seen good early sales of the all-new Rogue in the US and the all-new Note e-POWER in Japan, part of an attractive line-up of new products that leverages Nissan’s strengths.
The company’s full-year performance was impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic which led to a decline in sales volumes, particularly in the first quarter, sales recovered in the following quarters.
However, the business climate change continues to be a challenge. In addition to the COVID-19 impact, external factors including exchange rate fluctuations and semiconductor supply shortages compressed the company’s profitability.
In fiscal year 2020, consolidated net revenue declined to 7.86 trillion yen, resulting in an operating loss of 150.7 billion yen, which is significantly improved from the full-year forecast at the beginning of the fiscal year, and a net loss1 of 448.7 billion yen.
This includes costs associated with restructuring by 61.3 billion yen as Nissan focused on operational and efficiency improvements to transform the business. Free cash flow for the automotive business was a negative 391.0 billion yen.
Nissan maintains sufficient liquidity to steer through this challenging business environment. At year-end, cash and cash equivalents for the automotive business totaled 1.9 trillion yen.
Automotive net cash was 636.0 billion yen. In addition, the company continues to have access to approximately 2.2 trillion yen in unused committed credit facilities.
On a China joint venture proportionate basis, operating loss was 28.6 billion yen, which equates to a -0.3% operating margin, and net loss was 448.7 billion yen.
Even in the challenging business environment of fiscal year 2020, Nissan has been consistently and steadily implementing the business transformation plan, Nissan NEXT, to recover its current performance and improve the business structure.
By sustaining this momentum, Nissan will continue to introduce more attractive products and improve profitability and future corporate and brand value, thereby paving the way to achieve a 5% operating margin by the end of FY20233, target of Nissan NEXT.
At the same time, Nissan will continue its efforts to build a solid business foundation, including necessary investments for future growth, such as further promotion of electrification.
FY2021 outlook
Nissan’s global retail volume for fiscal year 2021 is expected to increase by 8.6% from a year earlier 4.4 million units. Nissan NEXT is making steady progress, however there is continued business risk due to semiconductor supply shortage and raw material price hike in this fiscal year.
While working to minimize the impact of these risks and factoring the potential impact, Nissan has set operating profit forecast at plus or minus zero. The company has filed the following fiscal year forecasts to the Tokyo Stock Exchange.