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Nissan announced a cut in its consolidated earnings forecast for fiscal year 2019 or its first net loss in 11 years, which could reach 85 billion yen to 95 billion yen (5.6 billion to 6.3 billion yuan), Kyodo news agency reported.

Nissan had forecast a profit of 65 billion yen in fiscal 2019, but Nissan could lose money in fiscal 2019 due to continued low sales in the world's second-largest US market and the impact of COVID-19 's epidemic. It is understood that Nissan's last full-year loss was in fiscal year 2008, with a net loss of 233.7 billion yen.

Total global sales of Japanese carmakers fell 7.3 per cent to 26.5 million in fiscal 2019, the lowest level in four years, according to Reuters. Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, production at home and abroad has basically stagnated. Toyota, Honda, Nissan and four other Japanese carmakers sold 1.82 million vehicles in March, down 34 per cent from 2.27 million in the same period last year. As the financial statistics of Japanese car companies are from April this year to March next year, the epidemic will seriously affect the performance of fiscal year 2020.

Nissan announced on the 28th that global car sales in fiscal year 2019 (April 2019-March 2020) were 4.7916 million, down 13.2% from the previous fiscal year, the lowest in nine years and the first time in seven years that Nissan sold less than 5 million vehicles. Based on the impact of the epidemic on the company's operations, Nissan expects an operating loss for the fiscal year ending March 2021, as the decline in sales accelerated due to the COVID-19 epidemic. An operating loss of up to 45 billion yen ($420 million) is expected for the current fiscal year, and a net loss of 95 billion yen is expected for the current fiscal year, compared with an expected operating profit of 85 billion yen and a net profit of 65 billion yen.

Nissan said the decline was mainly due to the COVID-19 epidemic, and the company has postponed its annual meeting scheduled for the middle of May 28 to May 28, when it will announce its annual financial results and restructuring plans. Nissan will announce a series of recovery plans next month. It is understood that the company plans to downsize or cut its annual sales target by 1 million vehicles.

In fact, Nissan's sales and performance fell sharply and cash flow dwindled long before the outbreak, forcing the company to abandon aggressive expansion plans pursued by former chairman Ghosn, adding to the pressure on the carmaker.

Analysts say global car sales will fall 35 per cent in fiscal 2020. Sales plummeted in March, leaving Japanese carmakers making much lower-than-expected profits in fiscal 2019 and causing most of them to lose money in fiscal 2020. Especially for Nissan, the aggravation of the epidemic is even worse. the performance in the first quarter or even the first half of this year will be worse than that in the fourth quarter of last year, and the impact of the epidemic on Nissan will continue until June. Nissan has had a worrying year and is expected to lay off staff or give up paying this year's dividend.

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