Nissan ends the financial year at $6B in loss

Nissan, based in Yokohama, Japan, sank into its first annual loss in 11 years, reporting a 671.2 billion yen ($6.3 billion) loss for the fiscal year that ended in March, Report informs, citing foreign media.

It has not given a projection for this fiscal year, citing uncertainties over the virus outbreak.

Nissan Chief Executive Makoto Uchida told shareholders Monday he is giving up half his pay after the Japanese automaker sank into the red amid plunging sales and plant closures in Spain and Indonesia.

Uchida apologized for the poor results and promised a recovery by 2023, driven by cost cuts and new models showcasing electric-car and automated-driving technology.

But the problems are especially serious for Nissan Motor Co., which already was fighting to salvage its reputation after the financial misconduct scandal of its former star executive Carlos Ghosn.

One angry shareholder got up and said executives should give up more of their pay since investors were getting zero dividends. Another said Nissan needed to do more to strengthen its governance, arguing things have been getting worse, not better, since the departure of Ghosn, who was arrested in late 2018.

At the same time, Nissan Motor Co. also intends to strengthen the cooperation within “Renault”-“Nissan”-“Mitsubishi” France-Japan alliance, relations with which deteriorated over after the financial misconduct scandal of its former star executive Carlos Ghosn.

The companies of the Alliance sold 9.34 million cars in 2019, down 10.9% from 2018. Due to the pandemic, the situation has become worse. For instance, car sales in Japan dropped 35.2% in May.