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Please get in touch with us if you would like to discuss any aspect of this report, if you would like to contribute to our work, or if you believe any of it to be inaccurate.

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Basic information

UK head company: Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd

International parent: Nissan Motor Co, Ltd, based in Japan

UK headquarters: Sunderland

Company number: 01806912

Accounts available to: 31st March 2015[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

  2014/15 2013/14 2012/13 2011/12 2010/11 Five year average
Employees 7,241 7,564 6,695 5,863 5,489 6,570
Turnover 5,262.267 5,319.117 4962.649 5056.105 4307.993 4981.626
Profit before tax 104.469 70.238 -7.958 -23.316 -1.667 28.353
Profit after tax 81.579 50.568 0.797 -8.129 -8.006 23.362
Tax paid 22.890 19.670 -1.700 -5.836 11.080 9.221
Corporation tax 17.099 0 0 0 0 3.420
Other current tax 0 -1.267 -2.803 -7.947 9.621 -0.479
Deferred tax 5.791 20.937 1.103 2.111 1.459 6.280
Capital allowances -11.238 10.420 11.002 4.138 -8.450 1.174
Government grants received 17.890 12.283 9.200 3.200 4.438 9.402

All figures except for employees are in million pounds[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Company Structure

“The company sells its finished vehicle production to the European group head trading company Nissan International SA (NISA), based in Rolle, Switzerland… this agreed trading structure with NISA has been in place for several years” (Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2015).

Subsidies/Grants/Loans

Nissan has received support in various forms over the past two decades.

The level of initial tax-payer funded support is provided in Parliamentary answers to questions. In 1984, Norman Lamont (then Minister of State for Trade and Industry) told the House of Commons:

Taking the estimated capital costs of phase I and phase II together of some £350 million, total Government assistance including SFA would therefore be up to some £88 million in a development area, or up to some £112 million in a special development area, depending on eligibility.

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1984/feb/08/nissan-motor-company#S6CV0053P0_19840208_CWA_35

The actual cost is difficult to uncover, as are related sums. Nissan itself still noted, in 2015, that an undisclosed amount was paid to support the “construction of buildings in 1989 – (Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2015).[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Form of support Value Year Notes
Loans
70,000,000 2013/14 Loan from the European Investment Bank towards improvements to the Leaf (Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2014).
  200,000,000 2011 Loan from the European Investment Bank (European Commission, 2011).
180,000,000 2008/09 European Clean Transport Facility loan from the European Investment Bank, of €400 million, shared roughly equally between the UK and Nissan’s Spanish affiliate (Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2009).
 
R&D grants
  7,151,000 2016 For work on a high energy density battery.
41,000 2016 Towards a “high power density SOFC stack module”.
2016 Soon to be awarded (amount not yet publicly disclosed) from InnovateUK for “joining technologies to enable implementation of lightweight structures in automotive” (UK Government, 2016).
  2,420,000 2010 Research and development grant received in 2010 under the REEVolution scheme, which aimed “to deliver high performance Range Extended Electric Vehicles (REEV) and Plug-in Hybrids Electric Vehicles (PHEV)” (UK Government, 2016).
  622,000 2009 on Five further research and development and development grants awarded since 2009 (UK Government, 2016).
  2,460,000 2008/09 Awarded under the Switch EV strand of Technology Strategy Board’s Ultra Low Carbon Vehicles Demonstrator Programme (UK Government, 2016). “As part of Switch EV, Leaf vehicles were given to three individuals, three businesses, three local authorities and three Nissan employees for six months each” (Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2011).
 
Grants
9,000,000 2012 £9 million grant from the Regional Growth Fund towards production of the Nissan Note (BBC, 2012) (Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2013)
18,400,000 Business Investment Schemes relating to the Nissan Note and Infiniti (Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2014).
6,200,000 To support production of the Nissan Juke (Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2012).
  20,700,000 2010 To secure the manufacture of the Nissan Leaf and its batteries in Sunderland, both awarded in 2010 (Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2010).
2,000,000 Grant for Business Investment for a new electricity substation for the battery plant (Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2012),
5,000,000 2005 To support production of the Nissan Qashqai (Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2012).
1,938,000 2009 To support assembly of petrol engines (Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2009)
1,248,000 Casting and machining project (Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2012).
  100,000 2008 A grant of approximately £100,000 towards training, awarded in 2008 by the East of England Development Agency (European Commission, 2008).
3,260,000 2003 Awarded in 2003 to produce a coupe version of the Nissan Micra.  The grant was based on production levels; production stopped in 2009, by which time more than £2.61 million had been drawn down (Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2009).
45,000,000 2001 Awarded in 2001 for the development of replacements for the Nissan Primera and Micra (Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2011).
5,000,000 2000 Awarded in 2000 for work on part of the Sunderland site to produce the Nissan Primera (European Commission, 2000).
  1989 “A substantial grant made in 1989 for the construction of buildings”

 

No figures available, but the funds are being released over 35 years and continue to be mentioned (although not itemised) in current accounts (Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2015).

  125,000,000 By 1988 * Grants towards construction of factory (Cornelius, 1988) (The Times, 1990).
 
Other support 75,000,000 2011 The Nissan Leaf is eligible for the Plug-In Electric Car Grant, at a value of £5,000 per vehicle until March 2016, then £4,500.  With 15,000 UK sales of the car by September that year, this places an upper bound of £75 million on the subsidy (Nissan, 2016) (Office for Low-Emission Vehicles, 2016).
  1984 Discounted rate for purchase of land: £2.4 million for 400 acres, with an option to buy a further 400 acres by 1991 for £2 million (Aaron, 1999).
  1,500,000 1984 * Derelict Land Grant to cover 100% of cost of decontamination of land (Aaron, 1999).
  1980s Development grants were guaranteed at 22% rate on plant and machinery, despite cut in rate to 15% in November 1984 (Hetherington, 1986).
 
TOTAL SUPPORT 782,040,000
Direct support (including * items) 255,540,000    
Direct support excluding * items) 130,540,000

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Sources

Aaron, C., 1999. The Political Economy of Japanese Foreign Direct Investment in the UK and the US. Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan Press Ltd.

BBC, 2012. The secrets behind Nissan’s Sunderland success story. [Online]
Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17273462
[Accessed 1 November 2016].

Cornelius, A., 1988. Ford leads £2 billion UK motor boom. The Guardian, 19 October, p. 1.

European Commission, 2000. Commission takes decisions on three state aid cases in the motor vehicle sector in the United Kingdom. [Online]
Available at: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-00-1026_en.htm
[Accessed 1 November 2016].

European Commission, 2008. Information supplied by Member States regarding state aid granted under Commission Regulation (EC) No 68/2001 of 12 January 2001. [Online]
Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/cases/227169/227169_855018_3_1.pdf
[Accessed 1 November 2016].

European Commission, 2011. EIB to provide EUR 220m to Nissan for production of the 100% electric Nissan LEAF and advanced lithium-ion batteries in Sunderland. [Online]
Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_type=251&lang=en&item_id=5552
[Accessed 01 11 2016].

Hetherington, P., 1986. £300 m Nissan expansion in Britain likely. 8 September, p. 2.

Nissan , 2016. Nissan celebrates 15,000 LEAF sales in the UK with £500 ‘Electric September’ customer reward. [Online]
Available at: http://newsroom.nissan-europe.com/uk/en-gb/media/pressreleases/426149588/nissan-celebrates-15000-leaf-sales-in-the-uk-with-500-electric-september-customer-reward#.V9gOQkdwuy8.twitter
[Accessed 1 November 2016].

Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2009. Report and Financial Statements. [Online]
Available at: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-prod/docs/KO-TnOgCVNbkF9bXPQLr6hj3BQyG6n7CzTBCHvW21Lo/application-pdf
[Accessed 1 November 2016].

Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2010. Report and Financial Statements. [Online]
Available at: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-prod/docs/G71TxrlGP9v3XlthvTuAutXzmg5CO3nDoHvLdFrvpAk/application-pdf
[Accessed 1 November 2016].

Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2011. Report and Financial Statements. [Online]
Available at: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-prod/docs/QDcYZJdAbrqnFclxu2LXZ3ZldMmF5OBlXQZxSzu_QOU/application-pdf
[Accessed 1 November 2016].

Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2012. Report and Financial Statements. [Online]
Available at: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-prod/docs/QeTtGYed1iKDutbd9Ol3EvzwYKepwT9dF15PHwn5_3E/application-pdf
[Accessed 1 November 2016].

Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2013. Report and Financial Statements. [Online]
Available at: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-prod/docs/lCrUv9zOuMsLuLb4fchQTPk0yeBmGtBHMvZD9zv1XP4/application-pdf
[Accessed 1 November 2016].

Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2014. Report and Financial Statements. [Online]
Available at: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-prod/docs/wIomY0NYiPC3D8vvUfXkyzzy-7b1SStjr4BVDwmekVE/application-pdf
[Accessed 1 November 2016].

Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, 2015. Report and Financial Statements. [Online]
Available at: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-prod/docs/P5nlVKO6W1lU0LElJlzhj3EYl6xl347iGTz7s0uSutc/application-pdf
[Accessed 1 November 2016].

Office for Low-Emission Vehicles, 2016. New Plug-in Car Grant Levels from March 2016. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/502056/plug-in-grant-rate-changes-2016.pdf
[Accessed 1 November 2016].

The Times, 1990. Japan begins EC assault. 17 September, p. 32.

UK Government, 2016. Innovate UK funded projects since 2004. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/innovate-uk-funded-projects
[Accessed 1 November 2016].

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