Toyota Raises Outlook Slightly; Cost Cuts Boost Quarterly Profit

TOKYO—Toyota Motor Corp. raised its full-year net profit forecast slightly Friday and posted 4.7% growth in quarterly net profit after cost cuts offset falling vehicle sales in Asia and Europe.

Toyota now expects to post a record ¥ 2.27 trillion ($19.43 billion) in net profit for the year ending March 31, up 4.4% from a year earlier.

Its third-quarter net income was ¥ 627.9 billion, above a mean estimate of ¥ 615.5 billion according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. It booked ¥ 7.3 trillion in quarterly revenue, up 2.4% from a year ago.

The world's biggest auto maker was the only car maker world-wide to sell more than 10 million vehicles last year, outselling Volkswagen AG and General Motors. In 2016, Toyota and its subsidiaries, Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors, expect to sell 10.11 million vehicles, slightly lower than last year.

While most auto makers including Toyota expect sales to remain strong in the U.S. this year, growth in that market is nearing its peak, some analysts say. And as sales slip in emerging markets such as Brazil and Russia, Toyota would need to identify where its growth would come from in the future.

In Japan, Toyota is set to halt plant operations next week due to a parts shortage, after an accident at a steel supplier. While the suspension, which could amount to lost production of around 80,000 vehicles, is likely to bite Toyota in the short term, it should be able to catch up in lost production in the long term, analysts say.

Toyota is among a dozen or so auto makers recalling altogether tens of millions of vehicles loaded with potentially rupture-prone Takata Corp.-made air bags, which have been linked to 10 deaths. Takata is also releasing its third-quarter results on Friday.

Write to Yoko Kubota at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 05, 2016 01:55 ET (06:55 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.