Nissan Motor Co. said Thursday its net profit for the nine months ended December nearly tripled from a year earlier to 325.35 billion yen ($2.2 billion), driven by improved sales and optimized pricing in its key regions. Operating profit rose 65.1 percent to 478.38 billion yen on sales of 9.17 trillion yen, up 22.3 percent. The Japanese automaker kept its full-year earnings forecast, expecting a net profit of 390 billion yen for fiscal 2023 ending March, up 75.8 percent from a year earlier.