Mazda Motor Corp. projected Friday a net loss of 90 billion yen ($865 million) for the business year through next March due to slowing demand amid the coronavirus pandemic, a turnaround from a 12.13 billion yen profit in fiscal 2019.

The Japanese automaker expects to see its first red ink since fiscal 2011, with an operating loss of 40 billion yen on sales of 2.85 trillion yen, down 16.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the company's earnings outlook released Friday.

Mazda also decided to forgo dividend payments in fiscal 2020 to brace for the impact of the virus pandemic on its finances, after providing a total of 35 yen per share in the previous business year.

In the first quarter through June, the Hiroshima-based automaker reported a net loss of 66.69 billion yen. It logged an operating loss of 45.27 billion yen on sales of 376.68 billion yen, down 55.6 percent from the previous year.

Mazda projects its global sales to stand at 1.3 million vehicles in the current business year, down 8.4 percent from a year earlier, due to weak demand except for the Chinese market.

==Kyodo

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