TOKYO — Mazda Motor slumped to a net loss in the latest quarter as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to hammer global sales and broadside earnings.
Mazda booked an operating loss of 7.6 billion yen ($72.0 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with an operating profit of 18.8 billion yen ($178.0 million) the year before, the automaker said in an earnings announcement on Monday.
At the net level, Mazda plunged to a loss of 26.3 billion yen ($249.1 million) in the July-September period, from a net income of 11.4 billion yen ($108.0 million) a year earlier.
Revenue slid 14 percent to 739.1 billion yen ($7.00 billion) in the three months. Global retail sales declined 12 percent to 334,000 vehicles; wholesale volume fell 18 percent to 255,000.
CEO Akira Marumoto said the pandemic slowdown forced the company to delay its mid-term business plan goals by one year. It now expects to achieve global sales of 1.8 million units and operating profit margin of 5 percent in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026.
Mazda’s profit was undercut by a slump in wholesale delivers, falling plant output and a decline in shipments of Mazda vehicles sold by other brands under OEM agreements.
Mazda nonetheless kept its forecast unchanged for the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2021.
Mazda had earlier warned it would book a 40.0 billion yen ($378.8 million) operating loss in the full year ending March 31, 2021, reversing a 43.6 billion yen ($412.9 million) operating profit the year before. It also projected a 90.0 billion yen ($852.3 million) net loss, from a 12.1 billion yen ($114.6 million) net income a year earlier.
The company forecast a 19 percent slide in global wholesale shipments to 1.0 million vehicles.
But citing a gradual recovery from the pandemic, Mazda raised its retail sales target by 5,000 units in North America. It now expects to sell 388,000 vehicles in North America this fiscal year, down from 397,000 last year. Global retail volume is seen falling 8.5 percent to 1.3 million.
Widespread U.S. lockdowns torpedoed early sales momentum for Mazda this year. The brand’s U.S. sales were up 19 percent through February on growing demand for its crossovers.
But Mazda chalked a 6.9 percent sales increase to 74,411 vehicles in the U.S. over the July-September quarter, in an overall market down 9.5 percent. Mazda’s U.S. market share nonetheless expanded to 1.9 percent in the quarter, from 1.6 percent a year earlier.
North American wholesale shipments climbed 11 percent to 101,000 vehicles in the fiscal second quarter, as retail sales added 1 percent to 104,000. European wholesale deliveries dropped 41 percent to 43,000 units in the three months; retail slid 22 percent to 54,000.
In Mazda’s fiscal first half, from April-September, North American operations notched a 1.1 billion yen ($10.4 million) operating loss.
The automaker’s European business, however, recorded a 4.8 billion yen ($45.5 million) regional operating profit in the fiscal first half, up from 2.8 billion yen ($26.5 million) the year before.
Naoto Okamura contributed to this report