MMC reported a 23% increase in revenue for its fiscal third quarter, boosted by improvements in wholesale volumes, a richer sales mix and favourable pricing. By Jonty Storey
MMC reported a 23% increase in revenue for its fiscal third quarter to ¥647bn (US$4.94bn), helped by a 1.1% rise in wholesale volumes, a richer sales mix and favourable pricing.
MMC Q3 & 9-month 22/23 (% change y-o-y)
Operating profit rose 125% to ¥69.1bn, a margin of 10.7%, up 3.4 points from the year-ago figure. The ¥38.4bn net rise in profit reflected ¥30.6bn in exchange rates; ¥11.7bn from sales mix and price; ¥10.4bn in procurement cost reductions; ¥7.3bn from lower sales expenses; ¥3.5bn from volume; ¥(29.4)bn in raw material, factory expenses and shipping costs; ¥(3.4)bn from higher R&D; and ¥7.7bn in other areas.
MMC operating margin (%)
MMC results
| Mitsubishi Motors | Unit | 9Mo-22/23 | Q3-22/23 | H1-22/23 | Q2-22/23 | Q1-22/23 | |||||
| Group | Data | % | Data | % | Data | % | Data | % | Data | % | |
| Revenue | ¥ bn | 1,805.3 | 27.5 | 647.1 | 23.1 | 1,158.2 | 30.1 | 629.5 | 37.3 | 528.7 | 22.4 |
| Operating profit | ¥ bn | 153.7 | 175 | 69.1 | 125 | 84.6 | 236 | 53.8 | 269 | 30.8 | 191 |
| Pre-tax profit | ¥ bn | 162.9 | 149 | 61.8 | 85.1 | 101.1 | 216 | 51.8 | 187 | 49.3 | 254 |
| Net profit | ¥ bn | 137.1 | 182 | 50.7 | 108 | 86.4 | 254 | 47.0 | 181 | 39.4 | 418 |
| Employees | 000’s | 28.80 | (4.0) | 28.80 | (4.0) | 28.80 | (4.0) | 28.80 | (4.0) | 28.80 | (4.0) |
| Unit sales (Retail) | 000’s | 630 | (8.3) | 204 | (16.7) | 426 | (3.6) | 209 | (1.4) | 217 | (5.7) |
| Japan | 000’s | 64 | 30.6 | 20 | 33.3 | 44 | 29.4 | 26 | 36.8 | 18 | 20.0 |
| Nafta | 000’s | 97 | (16.4) | 34 | (15.0) | 63 | (17.1) | 28 | (24.3) | 35 | (10.3) |
| Europe | 000’s | 52 | (49.0) | 19 | (45.7) | 33 | (50.7) | 13 | (58.1) | 20 | (44.4) |
| Other | 000’s | 417 | (0.7) | 131 | (15.5) | 286 | 7.9 | 142 | 13.6 | 144 | 2.9 |
| Per unit | |||||||||||
| Revenue | ¥ mil | 2.87 | 39.0 | 3.17 | 47.9 | 2.72 | 34.9 | 3.01 | 39.2 | 2.44 | 29.7 |
| Operating profit | ¥ mil | 0.24 | 200 | 0.34 | 169.7 | 0.20 | 249 | 0.26 | 274 | 0.14 | 208 |
| Pre-tax profit | ¥ mil | 0.26 | 172 | 0.30 | 122.3 | 0.24 | 228 | 0.25 | 191 | 0.23 | 275 |
| Net profit | ¥ mil | 0.22 | 207 | 0.25 | 150.3 | 0.20 | 268 | 0.23 | 185 | 0.18 | 449 |
| Per employee | |||||||||||
| Revenue | ¥ mil | 62.7 | 32.8 | 22.5 | 28.3 | 40.2 | 35.5 | 21.9 | 43.0 | 18.4 | 27.5 |
| Operating profit | ¥ mil | 5.3 | 186 | 2.4 | 133.9 | 2.9 | 250 | 1.9 | 284 | 1.1 | 203 |
| Pre-tax profit | ¥ mil | 5.7 | 160 | 2.1 | 92.8 | 3.5 | 229 | 1.8 | 199 | 1.7 | 269 |
| Net profit | ¥ mil | 4.8 | 193 | 1.8 | 117.1 | 3.0 | 269 | 1.6 | 192 | 1.4 | 439 |
| Sales | units | 21.9 | (4.5) | 7.1 | (13.3) | 14.8 | 0.4 | 7.3 | 2.7 | 7.5 | (1.7) |
| Return on revenue | |||||||||||
| Operating profit | % | 8.5 | 4.6 | 10.7 | 4.8 | 7.3 | 4.5 | 8.6 | 5.4 | 5.8 | 3.4 |
| Pre-tax profit | % | 9.0 | 4.4 | 9.5 | 3.2 | 8.7 | 5.1 | 8.2 | 4.3 | 9.3 | 6.1 |
| Net profit | % | 7.6 | 4.2 | 7.8 | 3.2 | 7.5 | 4.7 | 7.5 | 3.8 | 7.4 | 5.7 |
For the year to March 2023, MMC is now anticipating a 22% rise in revenue to ¥2,480bn as wholesales rise by an anticipated 1.4%. Operating profit is forecast to rise by 95% to ¥170bn, a margin of 6.9%.
As noted above, favourable exchange rates play a major part in the improvement. At constant rates, forecast operating profit would drop by about 32%, as increased costs for raw materials and most other inputs are only partly offset by a richer mix, lower selling expense and higher volumes.