Mazda sees 30% FY profit drop on strong yen, weak sales in U.S., China

TOKYO (Reuters) - Mazda Motor Corp cut its annual profit forecast by nearly half on Friday as the Japanese automaker expects a strong yen and falling cars sales in the United States and China, its biggest markets, to drive earnings to a seven-year low.Japan's fifth-largest automaker expects to post 60 billion yen ($555.4 million) in operating profit for the year ending March, down from a prior outlook of 110 billion yen, and lower than a mean forecast of 69.5 billion yen from 20 analysts polled..