TOKYO (Reuters) – Shares in Nissan Motor slumped more than 11% in Tokyo trading on Friday after the company said the previous day it expected to sell fewer cars in the current financial year than it had previously and amid worries about its business in China.
The 11% fall put the shares on course for the biggest one-day drop since September 2001 and lost the stock around $1.8 billion in market value.
The Japanese automaker maintained its annual outlook on Thursday as it expected a more profitable product mix to offset a downwardly revised retail sales outlook for the current financial year of 3.55 million vehicles, down from 3.7 million.
“Especially given what’s happening in China, we have revised our full-year forecast,” Nissan CFO Stephen Ma told a press briefing after the release of the results.
“This reflects challenges including intensifying competition and logistics issues around our key markets. “
Nissan has responded to a 26% fall in nine-month retail sales volumes in China by taking steps to mitigate industry-wide challenges it faces and boost its competitiveness in the world’s top car market, Ma said.
The company shifted its tactics to be more focused on cities and regions of China’s car market where electrification is happening at a slower pace, Ma told the briefing.
That helped the company increase unit sales by 19% year-on-year to 247,000 vehicles in the final three months of last year, he added.
“We aim to stay in China and we want to be a relevant player and a sizeable player in China,” Ma said.
(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
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