Tokyo - Nissan Motor Co incurred its first annual net loss in nine years and first annual operating loss in 14 years for fiscal year 2008 that ended in March, the company said Tuesday.

Japan's third-largest automaker suffered a net loss of 233.71 billion yen (2.38 billion dollars), which was the first loss since Carlos Ghosn joined Nissan from France's Renault SA in 1999.

Nissan's operating loss came to 137.92 billion yen, sales were down 22.1 per cent to 8.44 trillion yen for fiscal 2008 year-on-year, the company said. (dpa)