Toyota returns to profit
Last Updated: Thursday, November 5, 2009 | 5:42 AM ET
The Associated Press
Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it returned to a profit in the latest quarter and trimmed its projected red ink for the year, underlining the gradual recovery underway for Japan's giant automakers.
The world's largest car company reported a better-than-expected $257 million Cdn profit for the July-September period after three straight quarterly losses, citing stronger sales boosted by government incentives.
The result marked an 84 per cent plunge from the $1.65 billion profit racked up during the same period a year ago, but offered evidence Toyota was starting to heal after posting its worst loss ever in the last fiscal year.
Other Japanese automakers have made similar strides recently, with Toyota rivals Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. both reporting healthier earnings after taking a battering from the global economic crisis.
Toyota said it now expects to sell more vehicles for the fiscal year through March 2010, raising its projections to 7.03 million vehicles from 6.6 million.
The revised forecast still marks a seven per cent drop from the more than 7.5 million vehicles Toyota had sold around the world in the fiscal year ended March 31, though sales were growing in Japan and the rest of Asia compared with a year ago.
The company, which makes the Prius hybrid and the Corolla subcompact, said sales in the last six months were proving better than earlier expectations as government efforts to attract more buyers spur global demand.
Toyota forecast a smaller loss for the fiscal year of about $2.36 billion — less than half the $5.31 billion of red ink it had predicted earlier.
