Nissan Motor Co said Friday its net profit for the January-to-March quarter more than doubled from a year earlier to 75.3 billion yen (944 million dollars) due to robust sales in China and the United States, according to dpa. Japan's second-largest carmaker also reported a 25-per-cent increase in operating profit to 118 billion yen for the period while sales rose 13.3 per cent to 2.71 trillion yen. For the financial year ended March, Nissan posted a net profit of 341.4 billion yen, up 7 per cent from the year before despite the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck north-eastern Japan. The carmaker also logged an operating profit of 545.8 billion yen, up 1.6 per cent while sales grew 7.2 per cent to 9.41 trillion yen. For the year, global sales jumped 15 per cent from the year before to 4.88 million units, the largest number ever, and those in North America climbed 12.7 per cent to 1.4 million. Nissan also saw sales in China surge 19 per cent to 1.28 million while domestic sales were up 9.2 per cent to 655,364. Nissan projected a net profit of 400 billion yen for the current financial year through March 2013 and an operating profit of 700 billion yen. Sales were predicted at 10.3 trillion yen. Shares in Nissan closed up 3.34 per cent Friday ahead of the earnings report, which was released after the markets closed.
