Net profit of Japan's Mazda Motor plunges 80 pct in FY 2019 on COVID-19

Source: Xinhua | 2020-05-15

Japan's Mazda Motor Corp. said Thursday its group net profit dropped 80.8 percent in fiscal 2019 compared to a year earlier to 12.13 billion yen (113 million U.S. dollars).

The company said the sales falls in global markets due to COVID-19 caused the major plunge in profit.

Meanwhile, its operating profit decreased 47.0 percent to 43.60 billion yen (406 million U.S. dollars) on sales of 3.43 trillion yen (31.95 billion U.S. dollars), down 3.8 percent.

The company's global sales volume in the business year fell 9.1 percent from a year earlier to 1.42 million units.

"The negative impact of the coronavirus on the operating profit amounted to 10 billion yen (93 million U.S. dollars)," said Akira Koga, senior managing executive officer, adding that foreign exchange rate moves also caused the loss of profit.

In the January-March quarter of fiscal 2019, Mazda marked a group net loss of 20.3 billion yen (189 million U.S. dollars).

The automaker withheld its earnings forecast for fiscal 2020, citing uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Mazda has asked for loans of 300 billion yen (2.8 billion U.S. dollars) from banks to prepare itself for a prolonged decline in sales.