Nissan Motor Co. said Friday its net profit for the April-June quarter dropped 42.8 percent, hit by a rising yen and accounting provisions for the declining value of leased vehicles, AP reported. Japan's third-largest automaker said net profit fell to 52.8 billion yen (US$505 million) for the quarter, while sales fell 4.1 percent from a year earlier to 2.3 trillion yen (US$22.4 billion). Despite a slump in demand in the U.S. and Japanese markets and soaring material costs, Nissan kept its earnings forecasts for the current fiscal year through March 2009 with a net profit of 340 billion yen (US$3.3 billion). Sales are likely to stay at 10.4 trillion yen (US$99 billion). Nissan's global sales for the April-June quarter rose 6.9 percent from a year earlier to 936,000 vehicles.
