Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產) on Monday reported a record profit of NT$7.3 billion (US$239.16 million) for last year, thanks to high sales in Taiwan and a strong performance by its subsidiary in China.
The local distributor of Nissan and Infiniti cars said earnings per share (EPS) were NT$24.33 last year, 47.1 percent higher than the NT$16.54 per share in 2012, according to the company’s filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Operating profit rose 2.57 times to NT$1.83 billion, from NT$512.39 million in 2012, while non-operating profit grew 24.69 percent to NT$6.97 billion from NT$5.59 billion a year ago, the filing said.
The increase in operating profit last year was because of a depreciation of the Japanese yen and strong sales of its cars in Taiwan, company vice president Leman Lee (李振成) said by telephone.
Yulon Nissan last year replaced China Motor Corp (CMC, 中華汽車), which distributes Mitsubishi sedans and its own brand of CMC commercial vehicles, as the second-largest car distributor in Taiwan.
The company sold 44,010 cars last year in Taiwan, up 7.6 percent from 40,902 units the previous year, accounting for 11.6 percent of market share, industrial data showed.
This year, the company aims to retain its position as second-largest with a market share of 13 percent, Yulon Nissan chairman Tsay Wen-rong (蔡文榮) said earlier this month.
The company aims to sell 48,000 cars this year, he added.
According to Tsay, the company aims to sell 700 units of Livina subcompact hatchback cars, 1,500 units of Super Sentra sedans, 1,200 Tiida sedans and 500 to 600 units of the Rouge compact crossover SUV and Juke small SUV a month.
However, the company’s operating profit this year may be as flat as last year.
“Our operating costs are expected to rise this year because of a depreciation of the New Taiwan dollar, which increases our costs for buying car parts from Japan,” Lee said.
The company also has to set lower prices for its cars to compete with other distributors, he said.
Furthermore, non-operating profit is likely to increase this year as sales of its Chinese subsidiary, Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Co (東風日產), may rise to about 1 million units from 870,000 last year, Lee added.
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