Investment in Our Future Corporate Rating Canton plant investment included from fiscal year 2001 239 244 232 206 262 326 300 378 354 427 398 478 4.0% 3.8% 5.3% 5.5% 5.8% 5.6% 4.2% 4.4% 4.8% 4.6% 3.4% 4.1% 500 400 300 200 6 5 4 3 ’99 ’00 ’01 ’02 ’03 ’04 (Billion Yen) (% of net revenue) Moody’s S&P R&I A+ AA– A A– BBB+ BBB BBB– BB+ Aa3 A1 A2 A3 Ba1 9/01 4/02 9/02 4/03 9/03 4/04 9/04 4/05 5/05 PERFORMANCE Dividend Automotive Debt: Rating Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) Investment Policy Dividend Policy (Dividend per share, in yen) Nissan’s investments are made within the strict guidelines of its automotive operating ROIC. Based on these guidelines, Nissan reached 20.1 percent of ROIC on a consistent basis as of fiscal 2003. Regarding Nissan’s long-term credit rating, R&I upgraded Nissan from A- to A on May 11, 2005. S&P upgraded their rating from BBB to BBB+ on July 20, 2004, and Moody’s upgraded from Baa3 to Baa1 on January 29, 2004. Capital expenditures increased by ¥50.2 billion to ¥477.5 billion, representing 5.6 percent of net revenue. This increase included the Canton plant expansion. R&D expenditures increased by ¥43.8 billion to ¥398.1 billion. This increase went to fund new technologies and product development. Our R&D resources are focused on projects that add value to our customers and that will deliver an expected return, in both the short and long term. At the annual general meeting of shareholders on June 21, 2005, the company proposed increasing its dividend to ¥24 per share in 2004, up from ¥19 in 2003. In the first year of the NISSAN Value-up dividend policy, the  Company plans to increase the per-share dividend to ¥29 in 2005. By the end of NISSAN Value-up in March 2008, Nissan plans to pay an annual dividend of no less than  ¥40 per share.  Despite higher levels incurred for capital expenditures and R&D, cash generated from operating activities in the automotive division eliminated net automotive debt. Nissan held a ¥205.8 billion yen net cash position at the close of fiscal 2004 in this division. 40 30 20 10 0 ’00 ’01 ’02 ’03 ’04 ’05* ’06* ’07* ’99 *Forecast 0 8 14 19 24 29 34 40 7 Nissan Annual Report 2004 14