Mitsubishi Motors books first-half profit

TOKYO - Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Thursday it swung into the black during the April-September period for the first time in six years, helped by receding restructuring costs and a more profitable mix of models.

But faced with deteriorating consumer sentiment worldwide, the Japanese automaker lowered its sales and operating profit forecasts for the fiscal year ending March 2009.

Mitsubishi posted a net profit of 12.8 billion yen ($131.5 million), a big turnaround from the 5.6 billion yen loss it incurred in the first half of the previous year. The company said it had not posted a first half profit since the 2002 fiscal year.

Operating profit rose 35 percent to 25.4 billion yen ($261 million) despite higher raw materials costs and a stronger-than-expected yen. Sales fell 8 percent to 1.21 trillion yen ($12.4 billion) as the global slowdown sapped consumer demand.

"The global financial crisis is impacting the automobile industry as seen in a weakening of consumer confidence and in the effects of the credit crunch," the company said in a statement.

"It is clear that there will be a significant drop in overall demand in the mature economies of Europe and North America and also that there will be a slowdown in the economies of many of the emerging nations that have until recently have been relatively buoyant."

Mitsubishi, which makes the Eclipse sports coupe and Galant sedan, sold 602,000 vehicles worldwide during the first half, a 13 percent decline from the 691,000 units it sold last year, the company said.

It cut its full-year sales forecast by 6 percent and now expects to sell 1.228 million vehicles.

Mitsubishi also cut its full-year operating profit forecast to 50 billion yen ($513.8 million), a 54 percent fall from last year's results, on sales of 2.36 trillion yen ($24.2 billion). The net profit estimate was kept at 20 billion yen ($205.5 million).

Mitsubishi's earnings are based on Japanese accounting standards.

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