Toyota Motor Corp yesterday said that its annual net profit fell by one-quarter, despite record sales, blaming investment losses — but it forecast an upturn in the year ahead.
Toyota’s bottom line for the past year was pushed down by about ¥294 billion (US$2.67 billion) in book losses on its investment portfolio.
The maker of the Camry sedan and Prius hybrid said that net profit was down 24.5 percent, from its best-ever result the year before, at ¥1.88 trillion in the year to March 31.
Photo: AP
The firm forecast net profit to rise 19.5 percent in the coming year to ¥2.25 trillion.
Senior managing officer Masayoshi Shirayanagi blamed “the deterioration of the stock market in the current period” for the investment losses.
The figures suffered in comparison with previous year’s ¥250 billion boost from US tax reform, he added.
Sales rose 2.9 percent to a record ¥30.23 trillion, leaving an operating profit of ¥2.47 trillion, which was up 2.8 percent year-on-year.
According to local media, it was the first time a Japanese company had ever logged sales more than ¥30 trillion.
Toyota expects operating profit for the current year to March next year is to increase 3.3 percent to ¥2.55 trillion. Sales are forecast to sag 0.7 percent to ¥30 trillion.
The business environment for companies such as Toyota has also been clouded by the US-China trade dispute and continued uncertainty from Brexit.
Toyota executives have previously said that there would be no way to avoid a negative impact in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Its assembling plant in Burnaston in central England, which produces 600 vehicles per day, would be affected.
The plant operates under Toyota’s famous “just-in-time” system, holding limited stock on site and relying on flexible imports of millions of component vehicle parts from the EU.
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