TOKYO, Aug 2 — Japanese car giant Toyota said today its first quarter net profit rose thanks to solid sales and cost cutting efforts, but it revised down full-year profit partly due to a stronger yen.
The maker of the Camry sedan and Prius hybrid reported net profit of ¥683 billion (RM26.5 billion) in the April-June period, up 3.9 per cent from a year before.
The company forecast full-year net profit would rise 14.2 per cent to ¥2.15 billion, down from the previous forecast of ¥2.25 billion.
Toyota said its operating profit climbed 8.7 per cent to ¥742 billion, citing efforts to lower raw material costs, a strong sales push and a weaker yen against the dollar during the period.
Sales grew 3.8 per cent to ¥7.64 trillion.
Toyota said its group sales units expanded to 2.7 million in the first quarter from 2.6 million the previous year.
Satoru Takada, auto analyst at TIW, a Tokyo-based research and consulting firm, said: “Toyota is displaying a firm performance compared to its domestic rivals, as the auto industry is facing tough business conditions.”
“A potential risk is the impact of the US-China trade war. A foreign exchange loss is also among its concerns.”
The business environment for companies like Toyota has also been clouded by the US-China trade war and continued uncertainty from Brexit.
Toyota executives have said previously there would be no way to avoid a negative impact in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Its assembly plant in Burnaston in central England, which produces 600 vehicles per day, would be affected.
The plant operates under the company’s famous “just-in-time” system, holding limited stock on site and relying on flexible imports of millions of component car parts from the EU.
Toyota shares were down 2.83 per cent before the lunch break but trimmed the losses in the afternoon session after the results were announced.
Toyota’s crisis-hit rival Nissan reported last month a plunge in quarterly net profit as it struggles with weak sales and fall out from the arrest of its former chief. It also announced 12,500 job cuts.
Nissan’s bottom line profit dropped to ¥6.4 billion for the three months to June. — AFP
