Nissan profit quadruples to $1.26 billion

Nissan's quarterly profit quadrupled from a year earlier and the automaker raised its full-year forecasts as surging sales overcame the drag from a strong yen.

Nissan Motor Co. reported today its second quarter profit totaled $1.26 billion, up dramatically from 25.53 billion yen.

Sales at the Japanese automaker, which makes the March subcompact and Leaf electric car, gained 21.4% to $28.0 billion.

But Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga said the company's performance in the October-March second half was unlikely to be as robust because of the rising yen and increases in raw material and engineering costs.

Still, Nissan was upbeat, raising its forecasts for the full year through March to a 270 billion yen ($3.3 billion) profit from an earlier projection of $1.85 billion profit. That would mark a sixfold improvement over the previous fiscal year.

It now expects $108.3 billion in full year sales, better than the $101.2 billion estimated in May.