Nissan joins rivals in cutting annual profit forecasts

Nissan Motor Co on Friday halved its full-year profit forecast in the face of a rising yen, sinking demand in the key U.S. market and a broad-based slowdown in the coming quarters.

For the year to March 31, Japan's No.3 automaker expects operating profit of 270 billion yen ($2.74 billion) instead of a previous forecast of 550 billion yen. That compares to a forecast of 435 billion yen from a poll of 12 brokerages by Reuters Estimates.

It marks the third time in as many years that Nissan would be missing its guidance, cranking up the pressure on Carlos Ghosn, who also is grappling with sinking profitability at Renault SA in his dual-CEO role at the Franco-Japanese alliance.

Nissan lowered its net profit forecast to 160 billion yen from 340 billion yen.

Nissan, held 44 percent by Renault, said it was now not sure what its dividend payout would be for this business year. It had previously forecast 42 yen per share.

Nissan's shares fell as low as 400 yen this week -- down two-thirds from this year's high and below the levels in 1999 when Ghosn arrived from Renault to help rescue the near-bankrupt company.

Shares of Nissan are down 62 percent in the year to date, underperforming the Tokyo's transport sub-index , which has fallen 48 percent.