Japan's Mitsubishi Motors cuts full-year operating profit forecast by 30%

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors cut its operating profit forecast for the current fiscal year by 30% on Wednesday, citing the impact of U.S. import tariffs, weaker sales expectations, and rising selling costs.

The automaker now expects to post an operating profit of 70 billion yen ($475.12 million) for the fiscal year through next March, down from its previous estimate of 100 billion yen.

The company's shares fell 2% on the news, closing at 401.5 yen.

CEO Takao Kato told an earnings briefing that the revised outlook reflects challenges in implementing planned price hikes and incentive cuts to offset tariff costs.

Competition in markets other than the U.S. has intensified as companies seek to offset the U.S. tariff impact, pushing up selling expenses and pressuring profitability, he said.

Rival automakers have offered discounts in markets, such as Vietnam and Australia to offset U.S. losses, while impact had also been seen in Indonesia and Germany, said Tatsuo Nakamura, the company's executive vice president for sales.

The new forecast assumes that the 15% tariff rate agreed by Tokyo and Washington in a bilateral trade deal last month will take effect from October.

($1 = 147.3300 yen)

(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Tomasz Janowski)

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