Nissan to skip annual dividend, seeks to conserve cash: Sources

Nissan Motor Co. isn’t planning to pay a dividend for the current fiscal year as it seeks to conserve cash and turn the business around, people with knowledge of the plans said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

The automaker is set to announce results for the April-June quarter and an outlook for the year through March later on Tuesday. The quarterly operating loss is said to be about 150 billion yen ($1.4 billion).

Azusa Momose, a spokeswoman for Yokohama-based Nissan, declined to comment.

Nissan also skipped its final dividend for the last fiscal period. The halt in payouts is a blow to Renault SA, the Japanese carmaker’s biggest shareholder with a 43% stake and its partner in a global automaking alliance. Both are struggling with an aging lineup, high fixed costs and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Japanese carmaker is struggling to restore profitability and sales after the November 2018 arrest of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn and because a lack of new models left it ill-prepared to face a downturn in global vehicle demand amid the pandemic. Efforts to reduce spending and bring in cash will put Nissan on track to return to positive cash flow for the automotive business during the January-March fiscal fourth quarter, one of the people said.