Struggling Nissan Diesel Motor Co. reported on Friday a pretax loss of 6 billion yen in the first half of fiscal 1999, due to continued sluggish sales.

Although sales increased 2.4 percent to 111.3 billion yen, the company posted a 26.8 billion yen net loss.

The truck maker attributed the loss to restructuring costs and expenses in restructuring the management of its affiliated sales firms.

The Nissan Diesel Motor group had interest-bearing liabilities of more than 500 billion yen at the end of March.

Its current goal is to decrease liabilities to 400 billion yen by March 31, 2001. But it is also hoping to be bailed out by Renault S.A., which already owns a 22.5 percent stake in the truck maker. Renault is demanding that liabilities be alleviated more quickly.