A plunge in vehicle sales in China and poor results of a Chinese investment led to an 88 percent plunge in net profit in the first quarter from a year earlier, Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產) said yesterday.
Net profit fell to NT$178.59 million (US$5.96 million) in the three-month period, compared with NT$1.51 billion a year earlier, with earnings per share dropping from NT$5.05 to NT$0.6, the firm said.
Yulon Nissan distributes Nissan and Infiniti brand vehicles in Taiwan, while in China, the company has invested in several local automakers, including Guangzhou Fengshen Automotive Co (風神汽車), and assembles vehicles for Dong-Feng Nissan Ltd (東風日產).
Vehicle sales plummeted 40 percent annually due to the COVID-19 pandemic and large-scale containment measures that halted commercial activities, the firm said.
The pandemic reduced vehicle sales in China in February and March, but there was a recovery last month, with deliveries rebounding to the normal level of 87,000 units, Yulon Nissan president Leman Lee (李振成) told investors.
Vehicle sales in China are this year expected to contract 22 percent on an annual basis to 20 million units, Yulon Nissan said.
Dong-Feng Nissan, which is 10 percent owned by Yulon Nissan, aims to ship 1.27 million vehicles this year, little changed from last year’s 1.277 million units, Lee said.
Key component supplies are stabilizing after Chinese factories restarted operations last month, while plants in the US, Mexico and India are expected to restart soon, he said.
In Taiwan, Yulon Nissan expects overall new vehicle sales to decrease 1.1 percent annually to 422,000 units this year and it aims to sell 35,000 vehicles to take a market share of 8.29 percent, Lee said.
Yulon Nissan last year sold 37,800 units in Taiwan.
To boost sales, the company plans to roll out two new models — the revamped Juke and the Entra — in the second half of this year, Lee said.
Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車), Yulon Nissan’s parent company, yesterday said that it would postpone vehicle deliveries by about two months after the Philippines extended its lockdown until the end of this month.
The company has restarted partial operations at its Manila factory, Yulon Motor spokesman Steven Lo (羅文邑) said at a separate meeting.
The company this year aims to sell 5,000 units of its own-brand Luxgen vehicles in Taiwan, Lo said.
That would be a drop of 16.66 percent from the 6,000 vehicles it sold last year.
It last year sold 2,000 Luxgen vehicles in China and is still in discussions with its Chinese partners about setting a sales target for this year, Lo said.
Yulon Motor reported that net profit in the first quarter fell 22.44 percent to NT$197.23 million, compared with NT$253.69 million a year earlier, with earnings per share dropping from NT$0.17 to NT$0.13.
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