Japan's Mazda Motor Corp. said yesterday its net loss for the year to March stood at $68.9 million, beating earlier forecasts due to improving Asian sales.

Japan's fifth-largest automaker said its net loss came to 6.48 billion yen ($68.9 million), improving on a year-before deficit of 71.49 billion yen. The better figures were driven by an increase in sales combined with a "reduction in fixed and other costs and a weaker yen," it said in a statement.

Operating profit stood at 9.46 billion yen, compared with the February forecast of five billion and up from an operating loss of 28.38 billion yen the previous year.

Annual sales were 2.16 trillion yen, slightly higher than forecast but lower than the previous year's 2.54 trillion yen. The company attributed its recovery to swift inventory adjustment and aggressive cost cutting that reduced 100 billion yen in fixed cost.

Strong sales, particularly in Asia, also helped offset negative effects from the rise of the Japanese yen over the past year, which makes exports more expensive, it said.

Mazda enjoyed successes in China, where sales soared 46 per cent from a year ago. Developed markets remained weak, as sales fell 12 per cent in North America and 26 per cent in Europe.

"The recovery of automotive industry demands still lacks momentum, except in China and other emerging markets where robust demand is observed," it said.

The company said it expected a net profit of five billion yen and operating profit of 30 billion yen on sales of 2.27 trillion yen for this year to March 2011.

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