Toyota revises up annual earnings outlook

August 5, 2017

TOKYO- Toyota Motor Corp. on Friday revised up its group earnings estimates for the year ending in March 2018 on the back of a weaker yen, cost cuts and sales efforts.

The leading Japanese automaker raised its net profit forecast to 1.75 trillion yen from 1.5 trillion yen, still down 4.4 percent from the previous year's result.

Toyota expects its operating profit to decline 7.2 percent from the previous year to 1.85 trillion yen, though up from 1.6 trillion yen in the previous estimate.

The company revised its assumed exchange rate to 110 yen to the dollar from 105 yen, helping to boost the operating profit estimate by 220 billion yen.

"We'll make further efforts to improve profitability in order to avoid posting a second consecutive year of falling profits," Toyota Senior Managing Officer Tetsuya Otake told a news conference.

Sales are projected to increase 3.3 percent to 28.5 trillion yen, an upward revision from the previous estimate of 27.5 trillion yen.

Toyota left unchanged its overall sales volume forecast for the group, including Daihatsu Motor Co., Hino Motors Ltd. and joint ventures in China, at 10.25 million units.

It plans to cover sluggish demand in North America by expanding sales in Japan.

For April-June, sales grew 7.0 pct from a year earlier to 7,047,606 million yen, following a 5.7 percent fall in the same quarter of the previous year.

But operating profit fell 10.6 percent to 574,294 million yen, due chiefly to higher incentives in North America.

Net profit rose 11 percent to 613,056 million yen.

Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp. said Friday that they have agreed to form a capital tie-up and promote joint development of electric vehicle and other leading technologies while building a joint assembly plant in the United States.

Through the partnership, the two major Japanese automakers aim to survive intensifying competition in the global auto industry in new circumstances including the accelerating development of next-generation technologies and diversifying needs. Jiji Press