Japanese auto giant Toyota is expected to report over US$1 billion in operating profit for the April-June period, recovering from the previous year’s massive loss, a business paper said yesterday.
In the quarter, the Toyota group — including Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor — appears to have sold up to 1.9 million units, about 30 percent more than a year earlier, the Nikkei business daily said without citing sources.
Its operating profit is expected to reach about ¥100 billion (US$1.14 billion), recovering sharply from the previous year’s loss of ¥194.8 billion, thanks to higher sales in Asia and the Middle East, it said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
In Japan, Toyota enjoyed robust sales of the Prius, while sales in North America were also recovering thanks to incentives, although its operations were still feeling the effect of recalls, it said.
In addition to the expanded sales mainly in emerging nations and resource-rich countries, the company offset the effect of the strong yen through streamlining, it said.
However, Toyota was unlikely to upgrade its full-year forecasts, in part because of uncertainty over Western economies, the paper said.
Toyota has pulled about 10 million vehicles across the world since late last year because of massive safety recalls.
Despite the impact of the recalls, the automaker expects operating profit to rise nearly 90 percent to ¥280 billion in the year to March next year.
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