The disclosure came as Nissan said its profit in the most recent quarter declined 23 percent.

"If I don't say much in the third quarter, it won't matter," he said by telephone last week.

The company said in the latest third quarter, preferred dividend requirements exceeded net income.

It said operating income in the second quarter was $4 billion, compared with $4.5 billion a year earlier, an 11 percent drop.

Both regions have weak economies, and the company said sales in the latest quarter, ended Nov. 3, were down from a year ago.

But it said newsprint costs in the fourth quarter were higher than they were a year earlier, depressing results.

"There are points in a game that mean a lot," he said in the third quarter, with the Vikings ahead by 17 points.

"You kind of sense this is not a preseason game," Dierdorf said in the third quarter.

The company said in the year-ago third quarter a pretax gain of $3,812,000.

The increase reflected higher spending on an international branch expansion, the company said, with the construction of 71 overseas branches in the second quarter.