Toyota Raises Full-Year Net Profit Forecast

Tokyo, Aug. 4 (Jiji Press)–Toyota Motor Corp. on Tuesday revised up its full-year net profit forecast from 3 trillion yen to 3.25 trillion yen, reflecting the yen’s further weakening, as well as progress in securing alternative export routes to the Middle East. The revised figure is still down 15.5 pct from the previous year’s result due to the fallout from tensions in the Middle East. For fiscal 2026, which ends next March, the leading Japanese automaker also upgraded its operating profit projection from 3 trillion yen to 3.4 trillion yen, down 9.7 pct from the previous year. The weaker yen helped improve the profit projection by 480 billion yen, and the impact of declining exports and rising material prices due to the Middle East situation was estimated to be 160 billion yen lower, at 510 billion yen. Considering the yen’s recent movements, Toyota revised its assumed foreign exchange rates to 160 yen per dollar and 181 yen per euro. Toyota’s annual revenue forecast was raised from 51 trillion yen to 54 trillion yen, up 6.5 pct from the previous year. Its projection for global vehicle sales, including those at subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Co., was kept unchanged at 11.18 million units, as a higher projection for sales in North America, where sales of hybrid vehicles are robust, offset a weaker projection in Asia. The latest projections did not reflect the impact of the suspension of production at some plants following a powerful earthquake that struck Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, last week, as the company is scrutinizing the impact. In April-June, the company’s consolidated net profit jumped 75.6 pct from a year before to 1,477 billion yen, the first increase for the quarter in two years, on the back of a weaker-than-expected yen. Meanwhile, quarterly operating profit declined 8.8 pct to 1,063.4 billion yen. Revenues rose 10.4 pct to 13,525.4 billion yen. Global vehicle sales decreased 4.1 pct to 2,714,000 units, as sales in the Middle East decreased. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]