Nissan said yesterday its half-year net profit rose 25% to $2.3bn, lifted by strong North American sales and new models, with a sharply weaker yen also boosting the firm’s bottom line.

Japan’s number-two automaker said it earned ¥237bn in the April-September period, up from ¥189.82bn a year ago, while sales rose 8.2% to ¥5.14tn. Operating profit rose to ¥261.9bn, up 18.0%, said the maker of the Altima sedan and luxury Infiniti brand.

But Nissan also warned of slowing demand in its number one market China, as well as in Japan due to the April sales tax hike—a situation also faced by rival Honda, though it still reported a 19% jump in first-half profit last week.

The increasing popularity of such vehicles as the Qashqai, Rogue and X-Trail also contributed to the positive results, Nissan said.

For the fiscal year to March, the firm slightly upgraded its sales forecast to ¥10.8tn from ¥10.79tn, while it left unchanged expectations for a ¥405bn net profit and an operating profit of ¥535bn.

Nissan blamed “lingering” anti-Japanese sentiment for cutting its full-year sales target in China, the world’s biggest car market.

“We reasoned that expected higher sales in North America would not be able to offset weak sales in light commercial vehicles, increasing competition in the compact passenger vehicle market and political head-winds that have affected Japanese brands in China,” Hiroto Saikawa, Nissan’s chief competitive officer, told reporters. Japanese automakers’ sales in China fell off a cliff in late 2012 and into last year as a Tokyo-Beijing row over disputed islands sparked a consumer boycott of Japanese brands in the world’s biggest vehicle market.

 

SoftBank

Japan’s SoftBank said yesterday net profit in the first six months of its fiscal year jumped by more than a third, thanks to a $5.0bn gain from its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

But the company warned that annual operating profit would be lower than expected owing to poor performance at US wireless carrier Sprint, which the Japanese firm bought in a $21.6bn deal last year.

SoftBank’s first-half net profit rose 36.7% from a year earlier to ¥560.71bn ($4.9bn).

SoftBank has a one-third equity stake in Alibaba, which raised $25.02bn in a record initial public offering in September. The Japanese giant said its April-September revenue soared 57.9% to ¥4.1tn as it incorporated revenue from Sprint and other acquisitions, while sales in its mobile communications division also grew.

But operating profit fell 19.1% to ¥596.66bn due partly to costs associated with job cuts at Sprint.

 

Weir

Scottish engineering firm Weir Group said orders in the third quarter rose 14% on a constant currency basis, helped by strength in its oil and gas business, and kept its full-year expectations.

Weir Group also plans to close five small manufacturing facilities, cut some jobs and consolidate other service centres next year to reduce costs, the company said. The company expects to incur one-off cash costs and impairment charges of around £45mn ($72mn) related to the restructuring, a majority of which will be recorded in the 2014 results.

Weir Group also expects annualised benefits of about £35mn, of which about 20mn pounds will be realised in 2015, it said.

The company said revenue and operating profit for the third quarter ended October 3 were up from a year earlier and were in line with expectations.

 

Continental

Germany’s Continental AG has forecast growth in profitability and sales next year on the back of rising car demand, seeing itself as well positioned in growth areas such as emission-cutting technologies and driver-assistance systems.

The group, whose products range from tyres and brakes to vehicle information management systems, is benefiting from a push by manufacturers to use more sophisticated technology as well as from 13 months of rising vehicle registrations in its core European markets.

The Hanover-based group earlier this year acquired Veyance Technologies, a US-based maker of industrial hoses and belting, for €1.4bn, aiming to diversify its operations.

Adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell 5.9% to €962mn, missing a consensus forecast for 1.01bn in a Reuters poll of analysts.

The drop reflects write-downs of about €334mn in the powertrain business, which accounts for almost a fifth of group earnings, Continental said.

 

Office Depot

Office supply retailer Office Depot’s quarterly profit and sales beat market estimates, driven by cost cutting initiatives and higher-than-expected savings from the acquisition of OfficeMax.

Office Depot said pro-forma sales in North America fell 7% to $1.72bn in the third quarter ended September 27. Same-store sales fell three%, in line with the average analyst estimate, according to research firm Consensus Metrix.

However, margins in the division, which accounted for 42.3% on total sales in the quarter, rose to 4.6% on a pro-forma basis from 1.9%.

Office Depot said revenue rose to $4.07bn from reported sales of $2.62bn a year earlier.

Net income attributable to common shareholders slumped 78% to $29mn from a year earlier, which was boosted by a gain from the sale of its Mexico joint venture. Excluding items, Office Depot earned 10 cents per share.

 

Alibaba

Alibaba Group Holding reported quarterly results which showed net income rising 15.5% to $1.11bn for the July-September period, meeting forecasts.

It was the Chinese e-commerce giant’s first report to investors since its record-setting $25bn listing in September.

The non-GAAP net income - which excludes the share-based compensation expenses and amortisation of intangible assets - compared with a consensus estimate of $1.17bn based on a Thomson Reuters SmartEstimate poll of 21 analysts.

Revenue rose 53.7% to $2.74bn, versus expected sales of $2.7bn, its fastest growth in three quarters. Diluted earnings per share were $0.20, while non-GAAP diluted earnings per share were $0.45, up 9.4% year-on-year.

“We delivered a strong quarter with significant growth across our key operating metrics,” said Jonathan Lu, chief executive officer of Alibaba in its earnings statement.

 

Imperial Tobacco

Imperial Tobacco Group said it would raise its dividend by at least 10% in the next year, signalling confidence that cost cuts will help it to cope with weak consumer spending and higher taxes that weighed on its annual profit.

Imperial Tobacco said it expected to raise its dividend by at least 10% for its new financial year (2014/15), following a 10% increase for the year to September 30.

The world’s fourth-largest international tobacco company said net revenue in its tobacco business fell 6% to £6.58bn in the fiscal year. As of October 10, analysts on average were expecting £6.97bn, according to a company-compiled consensus.

Adjusted earnings per share fell 3% to 203.4 pence on a reported basis in the year, also missing analysts’ estimates of 214.2 pence per share, according to the consensus.

 

Securitas

Securitas, the world’s second-biggest security services firm, cut its forecast yesterday for costs related to US healthcare reform, a further boost as it posted profit-beating quarterly profit.

Securitas now sees staff costs in the US, its biggest market, rising only 4-5% because of an obligation from 2015 to offer health care insurance to all employees as part of the Affordable Care Act.

It had previously forecast an increase of 8-10% but now believes fewer staff than initially expected will sign up for the insurance.

In the third quarter technology based solutions accounted for 9.5% of group turnover, up from 9% in the second quarter and 8.5% in the first.

Operating profit before amortisation at Securitas, which operates in 52 countries, grew to 962mn crowns ($130mn) from 892mn a year ago.

 

Santander

Santander, the eurozone’s biggest bank, reported a sharp rise in third-quarter profits yesterday and said it would be cutting costs more aggressively to further improve margins.

Spain’s largest bank by market value weathered the worst of the financial crisis and property market crash at home through earnings overseas, though a faltering economy in Brazil, one of its biggest income drivers, has weighed recently.

Now under the direction of Ana Botin, who was appointed as chairwoman in September after the death of her father, Emilio, the bank’s net profit in the third quarter of the year increased 52% to €1.61bn ($2bn), beating analysts’ forecasts as losses on problematic debts receded.

But the increase was helped by higher income from trading bonds and masked a slowdown in the pace of the recovery in its core lending business revenue, or net interest income (NII), to €7.47bn, short of expectations.  

 

DSM

Dutch food and chemicals group DSM NV earned lower profits in the third quarter, in line with expectations, as currency effects and lower volumes hit its key nutrition business, the company said yesterday. The company said it expected to meet market expectations for the full year, but warned of volatile currencies, increasing macro-economic uncertainty and low consumer confidence. It said the stronger Swiss franc had had a particular impact on profitability at its nutrition business.

The company posted earnings before interest, tax, interest and depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of €315mn ($394.29mn), down 8% on year, on earnings that were down 1% at €2.3bn.

 

BMW

German luxury carmaker BMW AG posted third-quarter operating profit well above expectations yesterday thanks to strong demand for its sports utility vehicles. BMW has bet big on electric vehicles and small city cars such as the Mini.

But it was gas-guzzling SUVs such as its biggest off-roader, the X5, which helped boost BMW’s sales and margins.

In the third quarter, sales of BMW branded cars rose 6.9%, as demand for X1, X4 and X5 sports utility vehicles helped lift operating margins for BMW cars to 9.4%—above the 8.6% achieved by rival Mercedes-Benz Cars or the 9.2% seen at Audi

Quarterly earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose 17% to €2.26bn ($2.8bn), above a forecast for €2bn in a Reuters poll.

“BMW continues to deliver very strong earnings and the outlook for the rest of this year remains very encouraging in our view,” analysts at Evercore ISI said in a note. Net profit, however, slipped 1% to €1.31bn, below the €1.35bn poll average. BMW said this was due to a higher tax bill and a write-down on the value of its stake in carbon fibre manufacturer SGL Carbon.