Mitsubishi's net rises in latest quarter, but operating profit, revenues down
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Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s net profit in the quarter ended Sept. 30 jumped 60 percent to 10.10 billion yen ($129.7 million), data released by the company Tuesday shows.
Mitsubishi didn't release detailed financial results for the latest quarter. Rather, it released figures for its fiscal first half, ended Sept. 30. Automotive News calculated the second-quarter results by comparing first-half numbers with first-quarter results.
Operating profits in the latest quarter fell 28 percent to $204 million, as revenues fell 7 percent to $5.66 billion, the calculations showed.
The numbers were skewed by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which led to an extremely weak year-earlier net profit.
In the latest quarter, almost all of the earnings came from operations in Asia outside of Japan, driven largely by strong sales in Southeast Asia. Revenues in Asia outside of Japan rose 18 percent to $923.8 million, but operating profits fell 10 percent to $241.4 million.
In contrast, Mitsubishi swung to an operating loss in both Japan and North America from year-earlier profits.
In North America, it lost $14.5 million, vs. a year-earlier profit of $29.3 million, as revenues fell 39 percent to $419.4 million. In Japan, Mitsubishi lost $28.3 million, vs. a year-earlier $42.6 million profit, as revenues fell 6 percent to $3.48 billion.
Other data for the fiscal first half showed the deterioration of Mitsubishi's position in the United States. Mitsubishi's dealership count dropped to 386 from 397 a year earlier, its market share fell to 0.4 percent from 0.71 percent, and the percentage of nonfleet sales that were financed by Mitsubishi's finance arm slipped to 30 percent from 36 percent.
Fleet sales fell sharply, to 13.6 percent of Mitsubishi's U.S. sales in the latest six-month period from 31.8 percent a year earlier.
In Europe, the company swung to an operating profit of $39.3 million from a year-earlier loss of $42.2 million, as revenues fell 19 percent to $270.5 million in the fiscal second quarter.
You can reach James B. Treece at jtreece@crain.com.
