Toyota raises profit outlook on weak yen, strong US sales

Toyota Motor raised its operating profit forecast for the financial year ending March next year on Friday as the weaker yen makes exports more profitable and on the back of strong sales in its biggest market, the United States.

Reading Time:2 minutes

Toyota, the world’s best-selling carmaker, is edging closer to matching or breaking its record operating profit. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:30pm, 2 Aug 2013Updated: 11:09pm, 2 Aug 2013

Toyota Motor raised its operating profit forecast for the financial year ending March next year on Friday as the weaker yen makes exports more profitable and on the back of strong sales in its biggest market, the United States.

The world’s best-selling carmaker now expects to book 1.94 trillion yen (HK$152.6 billion) in annual operating profit, up from its previous forecast of 1.8 trillion yen.

Friday’s revised figure nudges Toyota closer to the record profit mark of 2.27 trillion yen it booked in the year to March 2008. The average estimate of 26 analysts also projects a profit of close to 2.27 trillion yen.

Toyota managing officer Takuo Sasaki said Toyota, which booked a record operating profit in the year ended March 2008 when the yen was much weaker, then plunged into a loss the following year as the global financial crisis unfolded.

“Our profitability has improved steadily compared to what it was before the Lehman shock,” he told a news conference.

Toyota, the third biggest carmaker in the United States, sold 1.3 million vehicles there in January-July, up 8 per cent from a year ago. In the month of July, sales rose 17 per cent as the Avalon and RAV4 proved popular.

The United States is Toyota’s biggest market, accounting for nearly a quarter of its global sales. Its January-July market share dropped by 0.1 percentage point to 14.3 per cent.