Toyota Motor Corp on Friday reported net profit in the April-to-June quarter increased 250-fold to $3.7 billion (290.3 billion yen) in a strong recovery from the 2011 disasters.
Japan's largest carmaker booked a net profit of 1.16 billion yen in the same period of 2011, soon after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami struck north-eastern Japan, knocking out many production
facilities and disrupting supply chains.
Toyota also said it posted an operating profit of 353.1 billion yen for the quarter, compared with an operating loss of 108 billion yen a year ago, while sales were up 59.9 per cent to 5.5 trillion
yen.
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Domestic vehicle sales for the quarter almost doubled from a year earlier to 576,670 vehicles, while those in North America, Toyota's
biggest market, surged 140 per cent to 662,347 units, the carmaker said.
The carmaker's quarterly group sales in Asia also jumped 61.1 percent to 418,756 units, it said, while those in Europe climbed about 20 percent to 208,847.
Toyota recaptured the world's top spot in auto sales for the January-June period, after slipping when production and supply chains were disrupted by the disaster in Japan and flooding in Thailand last
year.
The carmaker sold 4.97 million vehicles, a record high for a first half, up 33.7 percent from a year earlier.
Rival General Motors Co sold 4.67 million vehicles and Volkswagen
AG 4.45 million amid the eurozone debt woes.
Toyota predicted global vehicles sales for the financial year through March would come to 8.8 million units, up from 8.7 million it had projected in May due to increased sales in Japan and North
America.
Toyota maintained its net profit outlook for the current financial year, which ends March 31, at 760 billion yen. The carmaker also estimated an operating profit of 1 trillion yen while sales were
projected to reach 22 trillion yen, unchanged from its forecasts in May.
"Although we expect further marketing efforts and further cost reduction efforts in collaboration with our suppliers, we maintain our operating income forecast of 1 trillion yen," Toyota senior
managing officer Takahiko Ijichi said in a statement.
"This is because we assume negative FOREX impact mainly resulting
from weakness of the euro and a risk of deterioration of market
environments," he said.
A weakening of the local currency in export markets makes
Japan-made products more expensive, and erodes earnings when they are
converted back into yen.
Shares in Toyota closed up 0.66 per cent at 3,065 yen Friday ahead
of the earnings report, which was released after markets closed.
