Toyota lifts annual forecast despite Q1 profit drop on weak China sales
- It also said it plans to buy back shares worth up to 1 trillion yen, equivalent to as much as 4.22% of outstanding stock
TOKYO: Toyota on Tuesday raised its annual operating profit forecast by 13% to reflect a weaker yen — the upward revision coming despite reporting a fifth consecutive quarterly earnings decrease on slumping sales in China.
The world’s largest automaker now expects 3.4 trillion yen ($21.6 billion) in operating profit for the current financial year to end-March, up from its previous forecast of 3 trillion yen.
“In addition to revised foreign exchange assumptions, we steadily accumulated improvements in our marketing efforts, including increased sales supported by the establishment of alternative logistics routes to the Middle East,” Toyota said in a statement.
Operating profit for the April-June first quarter declined 9% to 1.06 trillion yen ($6.7 billion), compared with a median forecast of 1.11 trillion yen in a poll of eight analysts surveyed by LSEG.
It also said it plans to buy back shares worth up to 1 trillion yen, equivalent to as much as 4.22% of outstanding stock.
It also plans to cancel 200 million shares.