Nissan’s profits plunge on COVID lockdown, chips crunch

By YURI KAGEYAMA
AP Business Writer

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automaker Nissan says its profit in the last quarter plunged to less than half of what it was a year earlier, as the COVID-19 lockdown in China and a global semiconductor shortage slammed production. Nissan’s April-June net profit totaled 47.1 billion yen, or $349 million, down from 114.5 billion yen a year earlier. That marks a 59% drop. Quarterly sales rose 6%. Soaring raw material costs also hurt the automaker’s profitability. Nissan returned to the black in the last fiscal year for the first time in three years. Its image suffered after its star executive Carlos Ghosn was arrested on various financial misconduct charges in 2018.