Mitsubishi Motors' profit for its final fiscal quarter dropped 37 percent as costs for closing its plant in Australia and other losses in the U.S. eroded earnings, the Tokyo-based automaker said Friday.Mitsubishi Motors Corp. recorded a profit of 13 billion yen ($125 million; 79 million euros) for the January-March period, down from 20.6 billion yen the same period the previous year. The decline came despite a 12 percent improvement in quarterly sales to 734.8 billion yen ($7.07 billion; euro4.48 billion) from 658.8 billion yen, it said.

Mitsubishi blamed the drop in earnings partly on the closing of its Australian factory in Adelaide earlier this year. It had operated the plant for 28 years.

For the fiscal year ended March 31, Mitsubishi's profit quadrupled to 34.71 billion yen ($333.8 million; euro211.7 million) from 8.75 billion yen. Sales for the fiscal year just ended increased 22 percent to 2.682 trillion yen ($25.8 billion; euro16.4 billion) from 2.203 trillion yen, it said.



The latest fiscal year results marks the second straight year that the automaker has avoided finishing in the red. It returned to profit in the fiscal year ended March 2007 for the first time in four years. Sales plunged in those four years partly because its image was battered by a spate of scandals involving a systematic cover-up of auto defects.

Mitsubishi said in a statement that its overseas sales were strong in the just-finished financial year due to the success of models such as the Pajero and Outlander sport utility vehicles.

Mitsubishi sold 1.4 million vehicles worldwide in the fiscal year ended March, up 10 percent from 1.2 million the previous year.

Vehicle sales were up 5 percent in North America, 21 percent in Europe and 17 percent in other markets, offsetting an 11 percent decline in Japan.

Mitsubishi is forecasting 20 billion yen ($192 million; euro122 million) in profit for the fiscal year ending March 2009.

DaimlerChrysler AG had been an alliance partner until it withdrew additional financing in 2004. Since then, Mitsubishi Motors has received massive cash infusions from the powerful Mitsubishi group to support its revival efforts. Among Mitsubishi's other businesses are a bank, machinery maker and trading company.

DaimlerChrysler remains the top shareholder in Mitsubishi's former truck unit.

Mitsubishi Motors closed its Tonsley Park facilities in Adelaide in February, blaming the shrinking size of the large car market in Australia and mounting debts over the past decade. It took over the plant from Chrysler in 1980.

Mitsubishi Motors shares rose 1.2 percent to $1.57 in Tokyo. Its earnings were reported about an hour before the market closed.

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