Toyota's net falls 28% on stronger yen, sales slump

By Chris Oliver, MarketWatch

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Toyota Motor Corp. reported Thursday a 28.1% decline in net income for the April to June quarter, owing to a stronger yen, higher raw material prices and slumping North American and European sales.

Toyota's (TM:85,90, -0.55, -0.6%)(JP:7203: news, chart, profile) net profit totaled 353.66 billion yen ($3.23 billion), compared to a record 491.5 billion yen in the year-earlier period. Net revenue fell 4.7% to 6.22 trillion yen. Operating profit, or the revenue from sales once the cost of making and marketing those goods are deducted, fell 39% to 412.6 billion yen.

The automaker kept its fiscal year forecast for net income and operating profit unchanged at 1.25 trillion yen and 1.60 trillion yen respectively.
"The financial results for this quarter were severe, due to our rapidly changing business environment, including exchange rates fluctuation such as the rise of the yen against the U.S. dollar and soaring raw material prices," said Toyota Executive Vice President Mitsuo Kinoshita, in a statement.
Toyota said it plans to offset the declines by launching new vehicle models and stepping up production of popular models.
Toyota said quarterly North American vehicle sales were down 33,000 units year-on-year, European sales fell 32,000 units and Japanese sales were off 12,000 units. Vehicle sales in Asia, excluding Japan, rose 40,000 units. Vehicle sales in Central and South America, including Oceania and Africa, were another bright spot, rising 37,000 units.
Toyota said it plans to buy back up to 15 million shares, spending up to 70 billion yen.
Shares of Toyota fell 1.3% ahead of the after-hours results release. End of Story
Chris Oliver is MarketWatch's Asia bureau chief, based in Hong Kong.
Source:www.marketwatch.com