Toyota Motor raised its full-year earnings forecast on Thursday after reporting its first first-half operating profit gain in three years, helped by a weaker yen as higher material costs and weak sales in China weighed on results.
Operating profit for the six months to September 30 rose 9.2% from a year earlier to ¥2.1911 trillion, the company said. Sales climbed 9.5% to a record ¥26.9624 trillion, and net profit rose 26.1% to ¥2.2364 trillion.
For the year ending March 2027, Toyota now expects operating profit of ¥3.9 trillion, up from ¥3.4 trillion, and net profit of ¥3.57 trillion, up from ¥3.25 trillion. It cut its sales forecast to ¥53.5 trillion from ¥54 trillion.
China drags on global sales
Demand for Toyota's hybrids — which combine a gasoline engine with an electric motor — held up in North America, Europe and Japan. In China, a slowing new-car market and shrinking gasoline-car demand pulled worldwide sales below the year-earlier level for the first time in two years.
At a news conference, accounting chief Takanori Azuma said the company had held down the hit to earnings by working with suppliers on cost reduction and expanding revenue from parts and financial services, even as material prices and the situation in the Middle East weighed on business.
“Even as material prices soar by around ¥1 trillion, we will maintain our earning power by building up efforts on the sales side and cost improvements.”Takanori Azuma, Toyota accounting chief