Toyota jumps on sales rise
Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. posted a 32 per cent jump in quarterly operating profit yesterday as brisk European and North American sales combined with a softer yen to make up for chronic weakness in domestic demand. Toyota, the world's biggest and most...
Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. posted a 32 per cent jump in quarterly operating profit yesterday as brisk European and North American sales combined with a softer yen to make up for chronic weakness in domestic demand.
Toyota, the world's biggest and most profitable automaker, left its cautious annual forecasts unchanged, as expected.
Operating profit for the April-June first quarter was $5.67 billion, ahead of a consensus estimate of 612.4 billion yen in a poll of six brokerages by Reuters Estimates.
Net profit also soared 32 per cent to 491.54 billion yen. Toyota, valued at $215 billion - more than 10 times the market capitalisation of General Motors Corp. - kept its operating and net forecasts at 2.25 trillion yen and 1.65 trillion yen, respectively, for the year to end-March next year. Consensus forecasts are for a stronger 2.45 trillion yen operating profit.
Toyota is on its way to a seventh straight year of record earnings, powered by rapid expansion into developing markets such as China and Russia. It is also cranking up market share in mature regions such as North America and Europe with the Prius hybrid, RAV4 crossover and other fuel-efficient cars.
The sales drive helped the Toyota group, which includes small vehicle-maker Daihatsu Motor Co. and truck maker Hino Motors Ltd end GM's 75-year reign as the world's biggest automaker last year. It outsold the struggling Detroit giant by 128,000 units last year, according to Automotive News Data Centre.