Nissan kept its full-year profit targets on Wednesday even as its second-quarter operating profit fell to almost zero, its automotive net cash dropped by more than a quarter in six months and it cut its global sales outlook for the second time this fiscal year.
Operating profit for the July-to-September quarter was ¥2.1 billion ($13 million), a margin of 0.1%, down from ¥51.5 billion a year earlier, the Japanese carmaker said.
The net loss for the quarter was ¥43.5 billion ($274 million), narrower than the ¥106.2 billion loss a year earlier. Analysts had expected a net profit of ¥15.57 billion for the quarter, according to a poll by data provider Quick cited by The Wall Street Journal.
For the first half of its fiscal year, Nissan posted operating profit of ¥80.0 billion ($503 million), against a loss of ¥27.7 billion a year earlier. Almost all of it came in the April-to-June quarter, which earned ¥77.9 billion.
Nissan kept its forecasts of ¥200 billion ($1.26 billion) in operating profit and ¥20 billion ($126 million) in net income for the year to March 31, 2027. That leaves ¥120 billion ($755 million) of operating profit to be earned in the second half.
Revenue Up, Volume Down
Net revenue rose 8.8% to ¥6,072.0 billion ($38.2 billion) in the half, while global sales fell 4.7% to 1.41 million vehicles, according to Nissan’s presentation. Production fell 6.6% to 1.298 million.
The net loss for the half narrowed to ¥39.7 billion ($250 million) from ¥221.9 billion, and the operating margin was 1.3%, up 1.8 points. Ordinary profit was ¥36.0 billion, against a loss of ¥77.9 billion.
Profit before tax was ¥8.6 billion after ¥27.4 billion of net extraordinary losses, which included impairments of ¥4.6 billion, down from ¥70.8 billion a year earlier. Income taxes of ¥39.2 billion turned that into a loss.
Re:Nissan, the company’s restructuring plan, generated ¥110 billion ($692 million) in cost savings in the half, Nissan said. Cumulative savings since the plan began reached ¥365 billion ($2.3 billion), against a ¥500 billion ($3.1 billion) target the company gave in May.
The plan, announced in May 2025, also cuts Nissan’s vehicle plants to 10 from 17 and its workforce by 20,000 between fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2027. Nissan sold its Yokohama headquarters building last year for ¥97 billion and leases it back.
As part of the plan, it said in July 2025 it would end vehicle production at its Oppama plant in Japan by the end of fiscal 2027 and move it to Nissan Motor Kyushu.
A One-Time Tariff Gain
A large part of the first-half profit will not repeat. The presentation shows a one-time gain of ¥61.1 billion ($385 million) related to U.S. tariffs, which Nissan said in August had helped its first-quarter result.
Without it, first-half operating profit would have been about ¥19 billion.
Nissan’s bridge to its full-year target removes ¥60 billion for the “tariff one-time” item in the second half. The company said higher volumes, new models and a richer mix should “more than offset” currency and raw material costs and “the absence of the one-time tariff benefit recognized in the first half.”
The largest positive item in the bridge, about ¥105 billion, is labeled “sales performance / seasonality.” The second-half target implies a 1.7% margin, up from 1.3% in the first half.
Why the Second Quarter Stalled
Nissan said the lower second-quarter profit was “mainly due to the non-recurrence of last year benefit from lower U.S. emissions-related expenses.” The presentation puts that item at ¥36.0 billion.
Selling expenses and pricing were another ¥19.6 billion drag against the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue in the quarter rose 8.2% to ¥3,107.8 billion ($19.6 billion).
Second-quarter operating profit was the weakest since Nissan last posted an operating loss, in the April-to-June quarter of 2025. From the April-to-June quarter of 2025, Nissan’s quarterly operating result has run at a loss of ¥79.1 billion, then profits of ¥51.5 billion, ¥17.5 billion, ¥68.1 billion, ¥77.9 billion and ¥2.1 billion, according to its releases.
The company has posted a quarterly net profit only once in that span, the ¥3.8 billion of the April-to-June quarter of this year. Counting back to late 2024, it has lost money in seven of the last eight quarters.
Sales Outlook Cut Again
Nissan now expects to sell 2.97 million to 3 million vehicles in the fiscal year, down from 3.15 million. It had already cut the forecast from 3.3 million in August.
The new range is as much as 5.7% below the 3.151 million vehicles it sold in fiscal 2025. Nissan also cut its production plan to 2.65 million from 2.8 million.
Almost the entire cut is in China, where Nissan now expects sales of 370,000 to 400,000, down from 580,000 and from 653,000 last year. Its sales there fell 15% to 237,000 in the first half, while the market fell 22%, the presentation shows.
In the second quarter alone, Nissan’s China sales fell 32.1%.
“Weaker demand, a faster-than-anticipated shift to NEVs and intensifying competition are putting greater pressure on sales than initially anticipated,” Nissan said. It is cutting combustion-engine output and dealer inventory there while expanding its N-series electrified lineup and exports.
Nissan began exporting a China-developed pickup, the Frontier Pro, in October.
Because Nissan accounts for its Chinese joint venture with Dongfeng under the equity method, sales there do not flow into consolidated revenue or operating profit. That is part of why lower volumes have not moved the profit forecast.
Outside China, Nissan raised its sales outlook to 2.6 million from 2.57 million, 4.1% above last year. It now expects 435,000 sales in Japan, up from 430,000, and 1.345 million in North America, up from 1.32 million.
Its Europe forecast is unchanged at 340,000. U.S. sales rose 5.5% to 469,000 in the half and Japan’s rose 6.3% to 197,000. Europe fell 7.9% to 135,000 and other markets fell 17.8% to 192,000.
The second-half lineup includes the Rogue Hybrid in the U.S., the Elgrand and Kicks in Japan, the Frontier Pro plug-in hybrid in Mexico and the Pixo electric car in Europe.
Nissan shares closed down 1.5% at ¥277.80 in Tokyo on Wednesday, before the results were released, near the bottom of their 52-week range of ¥256.60 to ¥466.00.
Nissan will announce a new business plan in February 2027.
