Nissan Motor Co. said Thursday its net profit for the year ended March almost doubled from a year earlier to 426.65 billion yen ($2.7 billion), as vehicle sales grew following the coronavirus pandemic and a weaker yen boosted its overseas profit.

Its sales for fiscal 2023 jumped 19.7 percent to a record 12.69 trillion yen while operating profit rose 50.8 percent to 568.72 billion yen, the Japanese automaker said.

Nissan's global vehicle sales for the reporting year grew 4.1 percent to 3.44 million units, lifted by upbeat results in North America and Europe.

Sales in North America rose 23.3 percent to 1.26 million cars while those in Europe expanded 17.2 percent to 361,000 vehicles. In Japan, Nissan saw a 6.5 percent increase to 484,000 units.

But the automaker continued to struggle in China due to intensifying competition, logging a 24.1 percent drop to 794,000 vehicles.

Overall production at the company grew 1.5 percent to 3.43 million units, it said.

The weakness of the Japanese currency lifted its operating profit by 12.9 billion yen. Nissan assumed the average U.S. dollar rate of 145 yen for the reporting year, compared with 136 yen the previous year.

For the current business year ending March next year, net profit is projected to fall 10.9 percent to 380 billion yen on sales of 13.6 trillion yen, up 7.2 percent. Operating profit is expected to rise 5.5 percent to 600 billion yen.

Nissan expects the average dollar rate to be 145 yen and the euro 157 yen for fiscal 2024, both unchanged from fiscal 2023.

==Kyodo

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