Toyota's slow financial and sales recovery continues. A strong yen is hurting results.
Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) today announced that financial results for the nine months ended 31 December 2010 were 14.351 trillion yen, an increase of 5% compared to the same period last fiscal year.
Operating income increased from 52.2 billion yen to 422.1 billion yen. Net income increased from 97.2 billion yen to 382.7 billion yen. The income increase was attributed to Toyota vehicle sales in emerging markets and continued cost reductions. Toyota also said that in Q3, the October-December period, net profit dropped 39% to 93.63 billion yen, down from 153.22 billion yen in the same period last year.
The world’s largest automaker is still feeling the negative effects of image damaging safety and quality recalls, the rise in the value of the Yen, and the contraction of its Japanese home market.
Consolidated vehicle sales for the nine months amounted to 5.517 million units, an increase of 322 thousand units compared to the same period last fiscal year.
“Strong vehicle sales, especially in emerging markets such as Asia, Central and South America, and Africa, contributed to the increase in operating income in the nine-month period,” said TMC Senior Managing Director Takahiko Ijichi. “These regions are now increasingly representing one of the pillars supporting our earnings.”
While representing progress, this is only one-third of the record results Toyota posted in 2007-2008 before the collapse of the financial markets.
In Japan, despite and improvement of 49.3 billion yen, Toyota still had a loss of 174.4 billion yen. In Europe, operating loss improved by 33.3 billion yen, to a loss of 6.7 billion yen.
In North America, operating income increased by 144.5 billion yen to 251.1 billion yen, including 14.3 billion yen of valuation gains/losses on interest rate swaps. Operating income, excluding the impact of valuation gains/losses on interest rate swaps, increased by 155.1 billion yen to 236.8 billion yen.
Operating income in Asia increased by 100.2 billion yen, to 232.8 billion yen.
In Central and South America, Oceania and Africa, operating income increased by 37.2 billion yen to 117.2 billion yen.
Toyota revised its projected vehicle sales for the full fiscal year ending 31 March 2011 from 7.41 million to 7.48 million units, an increase of 70 thousand units from TMC’s forecast announced in November 2010. It was the third straight quarter of improved forecasts.
Consolidated net revenues and earnings forecasts for the fiscal year have also been increased by Toyota to net revenues of 19.2 trillion yen, operating income of 550.0 billion yen, income before income taxes and equity in earnings of affiliated companies of 660.0 billion yen and net income of 490.0 billion yen.
Toyota operates 75 manufacturing companies in 28 countries globally, and markets vehicles in more than 170 countries, while employing about 320,000.
