HispanicBusiness

Suzuki Motor Corp.'s net profit in the financial year that ended in March rose 49.2 per cent from a year earlier to 80.4 billion yen (814.5 million dollars) because of the depreciation of the yen and increased sales in Japan and other Asian countries, the company said Thursday.

The carmaker logged an operating profit of 144.6 billion yen, up 21.2 per cent from 119.3 billion yen in fiscal 2011 while sales were up 2.6 per cent to 2.58 trillion yen.

Domestic vehicles sales rose 7.6 per cent to 817,000 units in the financial year that just ended while sales in other Asian countries were up 6 per cent to 1.42 million units.

In the January-to-March quarter, Suzuki posted a net profit of 32 billion yen, compared with 13.3 billion yen in the same period last year.

The carmaker logged an operating profit of 51.7 billion yen in the first quarter of 2013, up 63.6 per cent from 31.6 billion yen a year ago, while sales were up 5.8 per cent to 755.6 billion yen.

Suzuki projected a net profit of 90 billion yen for the current financial year through March 2014 while estimating an operating profit of 150 billion yen and sales of 2.8 trillion yen.

The yen has fallen 25 per cent against the US dollar since November. A weaker yen makes Japanese products more competitive abroad and improves repatriated revenues.