This can't be good. There isn't any good news in this announcement. Meaning they must look at every expenditure ever more carefully to ensure it produces a positive outcome. Marginal projects would likely be curtailed or mothballed if they respond as a prudent public company would.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-...28-702126.html

TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Mazda Motor Corp. (7261.TO) said Thursday it swung hard into a net loss in the fiscal fourth quarter, as the yen's strength, sluggish domestic sales and quake-disrupted production in the last few weeks of the period bit into its bottom line. Citing the lingering impact of the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and ensuing supply chain disruption, the car maker said it can't yet make any reasonable forecasts for earnings for the fiscal year started April, highlighting problems facing the whole of Japan's auto industry.

Japan's fifth-largest car maker by volume posted a net loss of Y62.8 billion in the three months ended March 31, compared with a net profit of Y9.9 billion in the same quarter last year.

Mazda, which loosened its capital alliance with Ford Motor Co. (F) recently, but still maintains a tie-up with the U.S. company, said sales fell 1.3% in the quarter to Y607.8 from Y616.0 billion. It logged an operating profit of Y10.6 billion, about half of the Y20.5 billion it reported a year earlier.

The Hiroshima-based company's net loss for the 12 months ended March billowed to Y60.0 billion on its fourth-quarter woes, from Y6.48 billion a year earlier. Mazda bases its earnings on Japanese accounting standards.

 

$750,000,000 USD loss... that's not good, but not imposable to recoup.

They just need to get the shinari concept modeled product lines out there to refresh the line up, and like you said, they may have to put unprofitable projects on the back burner for a while.

 

it has a lot to do with the fall of the dollar

when our greenbacks drop, they get a lot less because they have to convert the dollar back to Yen.

The dollar vs yen has been around 78-83 for the past 3 months. Today its 79-80 up and down.

That's really bad for companies like Mazda (or Toyota/Honda/Sony/EtC) that depends heavily on exporting goods.

However, this loss might sound really bad, but everybody knows the reason so they not gonna blame Mazda about it. It's something really out of Mazda's control.

 

The Yen/Dollar factor is big but the supply chain situation is a crippler as well for sure.

Paul.

 

I think a lot of this is R&D not coming to fruition yet. You have to spend money to make money. They've obviously dumped billions of yen into R&D for the Shinari and SkyActv. Hang in there Maz. People are excited about what's to come. If they produce what is written to come, Mazda will throw a game changer into play in the Auto Industry.

 

Sad but true. Mazda's future depends on how their business reacts with the current economy and how they make reliable vehicles in the near future. Anyway, Mazda should invest were consumers will see and think that their vehicles are reliable and dependable.