Earnings down with Nissan despite sale performance boost

The Japanese group - which recently warned that it would review its Sunderland car plant after a Brexit deal - posted weaker-than-expected earnings of 163.5 million yen (£1.16 million) for the three months to December 31, down from 192.6 million yen (£1.4 million) a year earlier.

Nissan sold 1.09 million vehicles worldwide during the quarter, up from 1.02 million a year ago, and said it was on track for a 3.3 per cent rise over its full year, to 5.6 million.

But earnings were weighed on by higher marketing and selling costs, as well as a currency hit.

The car giant has been in the spotlight after boss Carlos Ghosn said last month that it would review the competitiveness of its car plant in Sunderland once the final outcome of Brexit negotiations becomes clear. Nissan announced in October that it was investing in production of new Qashqai and X-Trail models at Sunderland after receiving Government assurances that EU withdrawal would not affect the plant’s competitiveness.

It has denied a controversial so-called sweetheart deal with the Government to secure the future of the plant - which makes one in three of all cars manufactured in the UK - but has resisted calls to publish the “letter of comfort” sent by Business Secretary Greg Clark.

The group’s figures for the nine months of its year so far show strong demand in the US, China and Europe offset “challenging conditions” in its domestic Japanese market. In the US, it sold 1.16 million vehicles, up 4.2 per cent, while sales lifted 5.5 per cent across the UK and Europe.