Nissan Motor Co. said Thursday it logged a net profit of 215.53 billion yen ($1.67 billion) in the last fiscal year, returning to the black after two straight years of massive losses, as its earnings were helped by a weaker yen against the U.S. dollar.

The automaker said it expects net profit to fall 30.4 percent to 150 billion yen for the current business year through March 2023 amid a global shortage of semiconductors and surging raw material prices.

Nissan's net profit in the year ended March 31 marks a sharp turnaround from a loss of 448.70 billion yen in fiscal 2020, while the company posted an operating profit of 247.31 billion, compared with 150.65 billion yen in loss a year earlier.

Sales rose 7.1 percent from fiscal 2020 to 8.42 trillion yen, even though its global sales volume fell 4.3 percent to 3.88 million units due to the chip crunch.

The automaker said it was able to lessen the impact of surging material costs and a fall in sales volume through the depreciation of the yen against the dollar, among other factors.

In the current fiscal year, Nissan expects its operating profit to rise 1.1 percent to 250 billion yen as it projects global sales to improve to 4 million units through the introduction of new models and an easing of the semiconductor shortage.

Nissan put its assumed exchange rate for the U.S. dollar at 120.0 yen for the current fiscal year. A weaker yen has been proving a boon to automakers as their overseas profits are boosted when repatriated.

==Kyodo

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