Japanese auto giant Honda said yesterday it expected net profit to tumble 64 percent this fiscal year compared with last year, because of the impact of the March 11 earthquake and a strong yen.
Japan’s third-biggest automaker forecast net profit would plunge to ¥195 billion (US$2.4 billion) from ¥534 billion. Operating profit was expected to dive 65 percent to ¥200 billion from last year’s ¥569.7 billion. It also forecast a 7.1 percent fall in global sales to ¥8.3 trillion from ¥8.937 trillion.
Honda said that as a result of the quake, profits would be hit by a loss in production, decreased sales and restoration costs, effects that were compounded by the rise of the yen against the US dollar and euro as well as higher raw material costs.
Photo: Bloomberg
Honda said the yen’s strength would result in a ¥91 billion hit to operating income. Its earnings projections are based on the US dollar at ¥80 and the euro at ¥110, compared with ¥86 and ¥114 -respectively in the previous fiscal year.
Honda and its Japanese automaker peers delayed giving their full year forecasts to assess the impact of a disaster that shattered supply chains and created a shortage of essential components that hit auto production globally.
Rival Toyota last week said it expected net profit in this fiscal year to drop 31 percent year-on-year to US$3.5 billion, also because of the impact of the quake and a strong yen.
On Monday, Mitsubishi Motors said it expected net profit to rise 28 percent in the current fiscal year as it looks to make up for lost output following the March 11 disasters.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last