Honda quarterly net profit down 88 per cent, raises outlook (correction)

Aug 1, 2011, 6:57 GMT

Tokyo - Honda Motor Co said Monday its net profit for the April-June quarter dropped 88 per cent from a year earlier to 31.7 billion yen (408 million dollars) due to the yen's rise and disrupted output in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Honda said its operating profit was also down more than 90 per cent to 22.5 billion yen from 234.4 billion yen in the same period last year while sales declined 27.4 per cent to 1.71 trillion yen.

The March disaster destroyed many production facilities in the north-east and disrupted supply chains. Many manufacturers were forced to suspend their operations.

However, Japan's third-largest carmaker by net sales raised its net profit forecast to 230 billion yen for the current financial year from 195 billion yen projected in mid-June, compared with a net profit of 534 billion yen in the last financial year.

Honda also revised up its operating profit forecast to 270 billion yen from 200 billion yen estimated one and a half months ago. The carmaker posted an operating profit of 569.7 billion yen for the last year.

The carmaker also raised sales outlook for the current financial year to 8.7 trillion yen from 8.3 trillion yen predicted in mid-June. Its sales were 8.93 trillion yen in the last financial year.

Honda said it expected its global vehicle sales to drop to 3.43 million units for the year from 3.51 million units in the previous year.