Wednesday 24 April 2019 9:28 am | Updated: Monday 03 June 2019 12:40 am

Life after Ghosn: Nissan slashes profit forecast in the wake of former chairman’s rearrest

Nissan continued adjusting to business without ousted chairman Carlos Ghosn with a profit warning early this morning, as the car maker’s shares fell four per cent overnight on the Tokyo stock exchange.

The Japanese manufacturer said it expected net profit for the year to drop 45 per cent to 319bn yen (£2.2bn), down on its previous forecast of 410bn yen. The previous 410bn yen figure was already on course to be the firm’s lowest profit in six years when it was announced in February.

Nissan blamed a sales slowdown in the US, its biggest market, for the falling profit, adding the firm had taken a hit in the aftermath of former chairman Ghosn’s arrest in Japan last year. The firm is in the midst of a management overhaul after Ghosn was kicked out of the firm for alleged financial wrongdoing while at the helm.

For several years Nissan has relied on heavy discounting in the US to meet aggressive sales targets set under Ghosn’s leadership, which it is now looking to reduce. In a bid to draw a line under his legacy, new chief executive Hiroto Saikawa has vowed to reign the practice in, and turn its focus to China as its next major target market.

Earlier this week, Ghosn was hit with a fourth charge by Japanese prosecutors who accused him of aggravated breach of trust. His lawyers immediately met the charge with a bail request which came on the day his latest period of detention was set to expire.

“We are confident that we have the evidence to successfully prosecute all four cases,” an official from the prosecutor’s office said.

Ghosn has denied all four charges and said he is the victim of a boardroom coup. He has accused former colleagues of “backstabbing”, saying they are selfish rivals trying to sabotage a closer alliance between Nissan and its largest shareholder, Renault.