TOKYO (AP) — Nissan’s profit for the fiscal year through March jumped 92% to 426.6 billion yen ($2.7 billion) as sales grew in all major global markets except China, the Japanese automaker said Thursday.
Annual sales surged nearly 20% to 12.7 trillion yen ($81.5 billion), Nissan Motor Co. said.
For the January-March quarter, profit at Nissan, based in the port city of Yokohama, edged down slightly to 101.3 billion yen ($650 million) from 106.9 billion yen.
Quarterly sales rose 13% to 3.5 trillion yen ($22 billion) for the maker of the Leaf electric car, Infiniti luxury models and Z sportscars.
Chief Executive Makoto Uchida said Nissan was aiming for further growth under a strategy called “The Arc,” kicking in from last month, focusing on electric vehicles to boost sales.
“We will do this step by step with a balanced product portfolio and by implementing optimal business strategies,” he told reporters.
Nissan hopes to maintain its leadership in electric vehicles in the Japanese market with its Ariya sports-utility vehicle. Its new U.S. models include the Armada and Murano SUVs, and the Infiniti QX80 luxury model.
Nissan has said it will mass produce electric vehicles powered by next-generation batteries by early 2029, offering solid-state batteries in a range of models, including pickup trucks.
In March, Nissan and domestic rival Honda Motor Co. said they will work together in developing electric vehicles and auto intelligence technology. When asked by a reporter, Uchida said he could not comment yet beyond the announcement.
Nissan is projecting a 380 billion yen ($2.4 billion) profit for the year through March 2025, down 11% on year, because of development costs that will include support for suppliers.
The cheap yen has generally been a plus for Japanese exporters, including automakers, by raising the value of its overseas earnings when translated into yen.
But Nissan played down the perk, stressing a steady exchange rate was desirable. The cheap yen boosted Nissan’s operating profit for the fiscal year ended in March by nearly 13%.
Nissan sold 3.44 million vehicles globally for the fiscal year, slightly lower than its projections but better than the 3.3 million vehicles for the year before.
By region, Nissan sales grew in the U.S., Japan and Europe, but dove 24% in China. The Chinese auto market has been challenging amid a price war in a market dominated by locals like BYD, with its strong EV offerings.
Still, Nissan is expecting its global sales to rise to 3.7 million vehicles for the year through March 2025, with sales recovering in China while continuing to grow in North America, Japan and Europe.
Nissan shares finished 0.9% higher in Tokyo trading, which closed before earnings were announced.
Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
FILE - Logo of Nissan is seen at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo on Oct. 26, 2023. Nissan’s profit for the fiscal year through March jumped 92% to 426.6 billion yen ($2.7 billion) as sales grew in all major global markets except China, the Japanese automaker said Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faced a hearing Monday in the High Court in London that could end with him being sent to the U.S. to face espionage charges, or could provide him another chance to appeal his extradition.
The outcome will depend on how much weight judges give to assurances U.S. officials have provided that Assange’s rights won’t be trampled if he goes on trial.
In March, two judges rejected the bulk of Assange's arguments but said he could take his case to the Court of Appeal unless the U.S. guaranteed he would not face the death penalty if extradited and would have the same free speech protections as a U.S. citizen.
The court said that if Assange, who is an Australian citizen, couldn’t rely on the First Amendment then it was arguable his extradition would be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, which also provides free speech and media protections.
The U.S. has provided those reassurances, though Assange's legal team and supporters argue they are not good enough to rely on to send him to the U.S. federal court system.
The U.S. said Assange could seek to rely on the rights and protections of the First Amendment but that a decision on that would ultimately be up to a judge. In the past, the U.S. said it would argue at trial that Assange is not entitled to the constitutional protection because he is not a U.S. citizen.
“The U.S. has limited itself to blatant weasel words claiming that Julian can ‘seek to raise’ the First Amendment if extradited,” his wife, Stella Assange, said. "The diplomatic note does nothing to relieve our family’s extreme distress about his future — his grim expectation of spending the rest of his life in isolation in U.S. prison for publishing award-winning journalism.”
Assange, 52, has been indicted on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over his website’s publication of a trove of classified U.S. documents almost 15 years ago. American prosecutors allege that Assange encouraged and helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks published.
Commuters emerging from a Tube stop near the courthouse couldn’t miss a large sign bearing Assange’s photo and the words, “Publishing is not a crime. War crimes are.” Scores of supporters gathered outside the neo-Gothic Royal Courts of Justice chanting “Free Julian Assange” and “Press freedom, Assange freedom.”
Some held a large white banner aimed at President Joe Biden, exhorting: “Let him go Joe.”
Assange's lawyers say he could face up to 175 years in prison if convicted, though American authorities have said any sentence would likely be much shorter.
Assange’s family and supporters say his physical and mental health have suffered during more than a decade of legal battles, which includes seven years spent inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London from 2012 until 2019. He has spent the past five years in a British high-security prison.
Assange’s lawyers argued in February that he was a journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sending him to the U.S., they said, would expose him to a politically motivated prosecution and risk a “flagrant denial of justice.”
The U.S. government says Assange's actions went way beyond those of a journalist gathering information, amounting to an attempt to solicit, steal and indiscriminately publish classified government documents.
If Assange prevails Monday, it would set the stage for an appeal process likely to extend what has already been a long legal saga.
If the court accepts the word of the U.S., it would mark the end of Assange’s legal challenges in the U.K., though it’s unclear what would immediately follow.
His legal team is prepared to ask the European Court of Human Rights to intervene. But his supporters fear Assange could be transferred before the court in Strasbourg, France, could halt his removal.
Judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson may also postpone issuing a decision.
If Assange loses in court, he still may have another shot at freedom.
Biden said last month that he was considering a request from Australia to drop the case and let Assange return to his home country.
Officials provided no other details but Stella Assange said it was “a good sign” and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the comment was encouraging.
FILE - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange being taken from court, where he appeared on charges of jumping British bail seven years ago, in London, Wednesday May 1, 2019. Assange faces what could be his final court hearing in England over whether he should be extradited to the United States to face spying charges. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
London court to decide whether WikiLeaks founder Assange is extradited to the US
London court to decide whether WikiLeaks founder Assange is extradited to the US
