Toyota reports 4.4% rise in Apr-Jun operating profit

Toyota Motor Corp reported a forecast-beating 4.4-per cent increase in April-June operating profit and raised its North America vehicle sales target for the year to next March, boosted by strong sales of SUVs and pickup trucks in the US, its biggest market Reuters reported.

Toyota said today its first-quarter operating profit stood at 692.7 billion yen (£4 billion pounds). This beat the ¥637.3 billion mean estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

its operating profit from North America for the period was up 45 per cent to ¥149.7 billion. Toyota added that cost cuts and a weaker yen had also helped to boost earnings.

For the year to March 2015, the company did not change its full-year operating profit projection at ¥2.3 trillion, a record high, although just a 0.3 per cent increase from a year earlier.

Cutting its global groupwide sales forecast for the current year, the company projected 10.22 million vehicles sales, a reduction of 110,000 vehicles, reflecting weakness in emerging markets.

Managing officer Koki Konishi said at an earnings briefing that conditions in Thailand, India, Brazail and other emerging markets were weak.

He added, the company was trying its best to get an additional 50,000 vehicles out of Japan to offset some of that, and to reach around 2.3 million in the US.

Net profit stood at ¥587 billion (£3.4 billion) which was an increase of 4.6 per cent from a year ago, BBC reported.

Total group sales for the quarter were up at 2 per cent to ¥6.39 trillion.

Domestic sales were however down nearly 10 per cent from a year ago. In April, Japan increased its sales tax to 8 per cent, from 5 per cent.

The tax hike led to many consumers delaying purchases on big-ticket items.

Toyota clocked sales of 207,000 vehicles in Europe in the three months to June from a year ago, which was an 8 per cent jump.

North American sales were up by 3 per cent to a little over 710,000 vehicles.

There was no mention of any impact from the recent vehicle recalls on the finances in the latest earnings statement the from the car maker.

The company recalled 6.4 million vehicles globally, including over 35,000 cars in the UK in April.

Around 3.5 million vehicles were recalled to replace a spiral cable attached on the driver airbag.