Toyota Motor Corporation posted better than expected operating profits for the quarter and also increased its yearly forecasts on cost declines and the subsidies given by the Japanese government, even though the company is in some ways below the expectations of analysts.
Last year, due to the terrible floods in Thailand, Toyota was affected largely. The company had to first deal with the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan last year in March. The cost of flood damage to Toyota Motor Corp was about 240,000 vehicles, which were lost in production all over the world, which dropped the global sales of the company down last year by 6 percent. Due to Toyota’s production getting damaged by floods and the earthquake, General Motors Co and Volkswagen AG overtook the company as the leading car manufacturers in the world.
Toyota Motor now expects its operating profits for the year that will end in March to be 270 billion yen, which is equal to $3.5 billion. Previously, the company estimated its operating profit, earnings earned from its core operations, to be 200 billion yen. Last year, Toyota’s operating profit was 468 billion yen.
The Japanese company has a market value of nearly $135 billion, which is more than the combined market value of its rivals including Nissan Motor Co and Honda Motor Co, as well as Suzuki Motor Corp
Toyota’s operating profit in October-December increased by 51.1 percent, settling at $1.95 billion from a year before. The reported operating profit for the quarter is more than the average estimate which was reported to be slightly lower, of 93.9 billion yen, in a poll that was conducted by Reuters. The poll which expected slightly lower operating profits for Toyota incorporated opinions of nine analysts.
However, on the other hand, Toyota’s quarterly net profit dropped by 13.5 percent, settling at a value of 80.9 billion yen.
