Further losses for car giant Mazda

Japanese car giant Mazda has reported a 14.4 billion yen (€133m) loss for the latest quarter and is now projecting a big annual loss instead of a profit due to the sluggish global economy and high yen.

The company is among several Japanese manufacturers facing a similar business environment just as production was starting to recover from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster in north-eastern Japan.

Mazda now expects a loss of 19 billion yen (€176m) for the year ending March 2012, down from an earlier projection of a 1 billion yen (€9m) profit.

The loss for the July-September quarter, announced today, follows a 25.5 billion yen (€234m) loss in the first quarter.