Mitsubishi Motors Reports Nine-Month Financial Results for FY2018
1. FY2018 Nine-Month Financial Results Highlights
Mitsubishi Motors reported net sales of 1,794.1 billion yen for the nine-month period to December 31, 2018, a 18.2% increase year-on-year. Operating profit rose from 64.6 billion yen in the same period of fiscal 2017 to 85.0 billion yen, representing an operating margin of 4.7%. Net income was 69.2 billion yen.
| (billion yen) | 1 - 3Q 9- month (Apr.-Dec.) | ||
| FY2017 (Actual) | FY2018 (Actual) | Variance | |
| Retail volume (thousand unite) | 777 | 894 | +117 |
| Net Sales | 1,518.1 | 1,794.1 | +276.0 |
| Operating Profite (Operating Margin) | 64.6(4.3%) | 85.0(4.7%) | +20.4(+0.4) |
| Obinary Profit | 81.1 | 92.4 | +11.3 |
| Net income*1 | 70.1 | 69.2 | 0.9 |
2. Global Sales Performance
Global sales volume for the nine months ended December 31, 2018 increased 15% year-on-year to 894,000 units.
ASEAN sales increased 27% year-on-year to 235,000 units, primarily driven by the strong demand for the XPANDER next-generation crossover MPV.
Sales in Europe increased 29% year-on-year to 168,000 units, driven by the continued robust performance of the Eclipse Cross and Outlander PHEV in Western Europe and the locally produced Outlander in Russia.
Sales volumes increased year-on-year in all regions, including our Bed-rock market of Oceania and our Focus markets of North America and China, others. We are thus progressing generally in line with the full-year forecasts announced at the start of the current fiscal year.
3. FY2018 Full-Year Consolidated Financial Forecasts
Our FY2018 full-year consolidated financial forecasts are shown below and remain unchanged from the filing made to the Tokyo Stock Exchange in May 2018.
| (billion yen) | Full-year forcast (Apr.-Mar.) | ||
| FY2017 (Actual) | FY2018 (Forecast) | Variance | |
| Retail volume (thousand unite) | 1,101 | 1,250 | +149 |
| Net Sales | 2,192.4 | 2,400.0 | +207.6 |
| Operating Profite (Operating Margin) | 98.2(4.5%) | 110.0(4.6%) | +11.8(+0.1) |
| Obinary Profit | 110.1 | 125.0 | +14.9 |
| Net income*1 | 107.6 | 110.0 | +2.4 |
Osamu Masuko, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mitsubishi Motors, said: "Up until the third quarter, we were affected by the negative movements in emerging and commodity currencies, in addition to repeated natural disasters in Japan. Even in these circumstances, we were able to achieve a year-on-year increase as a whole and secure a level close to our plan in terms of sales volume, net sales and operating profit.
In addition to slowing demand in major markets such as the U.S. and China, we are continuously facing a situation of unstable exchange rates. We will be relentless with our continuing efforts to reduce costs, while focusing first and foremost on achieving our full-year target.
We are not optimistic that this difficult business environment will be temporary, so as a starting point we intend to redefine our "Vision for Mitsubishi Motors" to be a strategy to survive and steadily increase profitability in a sustainable manner by utilizing alliances on our scale."
Note on forward-looking statements
This statement contains forward-looking statements, based on judgments and estimates that have been made on the basis of currently available information. By nature, such statements are subject to uncertainty and risk. Therefore, you are advised that the final results might be significantly different from the aforementioned statements due to changes in economic environments related to our business, market trends, fluctuations in interest rates and exchange rate, changes in laws, regulations and government policies, etc.
Potential risks and uncertainties are not limited to the above and Mitsubishi Motors is not under any obligation to update the information in this statement to reflect any developments or events in the future.
If you are interested in investing in Mitsubishi Motors, you are requested to make a final investment decision at your own risk, taking the foregoing into consideration. Please note that neither Mitsubishi Motors nor any third party providing information shall be responsible for any damage you may suffer due to investment in Mitsubishi Motors based on the information shown in this statement.
