Mitsubishi Motors sees significant improvement in cumulative 3Q results, downward revisions to sales volume and net sales in full-year forecasts

Although the exchange rate remained strong toward the end of (2022), we continued to improve the quality of sales and take home improvement activities, etc., resulting in a significant improvement compared to the same period of the previous year (fiscal year).” Mr. Koji Ikeya, Mitsubishi Motors Representative Executive Officer and Executive Vice President [CFO (Chief Financial Officer)] announced the financial results for the cumulative third quarter (3Q) of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023 (April 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022) ( Japanese standards, consolidated), he took the podium and said the following.

　The company’s cumulative 3Q sales were 1,805,320 million yen (up 27.5% year-on-year), operating profit was 153,699 million yen (up 174.7% year-on-year), and the operating profit margin was 8.5%. rice field. The 3Q performance (consolidated) was also strong, with net sales of 647.1 billion yen, higher than the 1Q (528.7 billion yen) and 2Q (629.5 billion yen), and the operating income of 69.1 billion yen (30.8 billion yen in the 1Q). , JPY53.8bn in 2Q), and OPM reached 10.7% (5.8% in 1Q, 8.5% in 2Q).

Volume and mix (model composition)/sales price improved by 53.4 billion yen from the same period of the previous fiscal year. This was due to an increase in sales volume in the ASEAN region, which is a core and highly profitable region, and progress in activities to improve selling prices in each country. Sales expenses increased by 17.2 billion yen year-on-year, driven mainly by a decrease in countermeasures in North America, despite an increase in advertising expenses in line with the normalization of economic activities in each country.

　Material costs/transport costs worsened by 54.5 billion yen year-on-year. As in the first half of the same period, the soaring raw material prices were partly absorbed by activities to reduce material costs, but worsening transportation costs and factory expenses had an impact. R&D expenses increased as planned to prepare for the launch of new products from FY2023 onwards, which was a negative factor of 11.7 billion yen.

　Other expenses increased profit by 13.2 billion yen year-on-year. After-sales profits and profits of domestic subsidiaries improved. As for foreign exchange, positive factors of the US dollar and the Australian dollar were large, resulting in an improvement of 80.2 billion yen from the same period last year.

　Mr. Ikeya said, “Although there was a tailwind from the exchange rate, amidst vehicle supply constraints, we will carefully sell mainly in the main regions and promote the take-home improvement strategy that we are working on. Absorbing the cost increase in development costs, the total profit increased by 97.8 billion yen compared to the same period of the previous year (fiscal year).Even if the impact of exchange rates is excluded, the profit increased by nearly 18 billion yen year-on-year.”

　On the other hand, the number of units sold (retail units) for the cumulative third quarter of the same year decreased by 8% from the same period of the previous year to 630,000 units due to the impact of restrictions on the number of units produced due to the shortage of semiconductors and the shortage of ships. In particular, China, which firmly maintained its zero-corona policy (down 40% year-on-year to 39,000 units), and Europe (down 45% year-on-year to 5 units), were affected by a decline in the model lineup and suspension of vehicle supply due to the Russia and Ukraine problems. In addition, the shortage of vehicle supply had a relatively large impact on sales in North America (down 16% year-on-year to 97,000 units)