Toyota Motor Corp. on Monday raised its net profit
forecast for the current financial year to 780 billion yen (9.7
billion dollars) on robust sales in South-East Asia and the US,
announcing that quarterly net profit had more than tripled.
Japan's largest carmaker three months ago had projected a net
profit of 760 billion yen for the year that ends March 31.
Toyota also raised its operating profit forecast to 1.05 trillion
yen from 1 trillion yen while sales were projected at 21.3 trillion
yen, down 3 per cent from August's forecast amid anti-Japan sentiment
in China over a group of disputed islands.
Toyota posted a net profit of 257.9 billion yen in the
July-to-September quarter thanks to spending in the recovery from the
March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan and Thai flooding later
that year. Profits surged from 80.4 billion yen in the same quarter
last year.
The carmaker also logged an operating profit of 340.6 billion yen
for the July-to-September period, up sharply from an operating profit
of 75.4 billion yen a year ago, while sales jumped 18.2 per cent to
5.4 trillion yen.
Global vehicle sales jumped 24.5 per cent to 2.25 million units in
the July-to-September quarter from the same period last year, Toyota
said.
Sales in North America surged 44.8 per cent to 598,000 units for
the quarter while those in Asia rose 18.6 per cent to 421,000, the
carmaker said.
"Although currency fluctuations have continued to affect our
profits and the effect of current Japan-China relations on our sales
is still unclear, we have revised the forecast we announced at the
end of the first quarter to reflect the progress we have been making
in our profit improvement activities," company vice president Satoshi
Ozawa said in a statement.
Car sales in China plunged 48.9 per cent in September and 44 per
cent in October because of an on-going boycott of Japanese products
in the world's second-largest economy.
Japan's purchase of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea
triggered anti-Japan protests in many Chinese cities. The
Japanese-administered islets are also claimed by Taiwan and China.
Toyota predicted its sales in China would be affected by 200,000
units from October to March.
The carmaker expected to sell 8.75 million units worldwide for the
current financial year, down from 8.8 million projected three months
ago.
