Toyota hikes annual profit forecast after Q3 beats expectations By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Toyota Motor Corp.’s new Land Cruiser is pictured at its unveiling occasion in Tokyo, Japan August 2, 2023, on this photograph taken by Kyodo by way of REUTERS/File Picture

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s Toyota Motor (NYSE:) raised its full-year working revenue forecast by practically 9% on Tuesday, after its third-quarter earnings raced previous analysts’ estimates due to a weaker yen and powerful gross sales of high-margin automobiles and hybrid autos.

Toyota shares surged 4.4% after the announcement, recovering from a 0.7% fall earlier.

The upper forecast from the world’s best-selling automaker contrasts with a downbeat outlook from lots of its rivals who’ve warned of tepid gross sales development and introduced manufacturing cuts this yr attributable to excessive rates of interest and slowing demand for electrical autos (EVs).

Toyota, a laggard in battery-powered EVs, is seen outperforming opponents this yr, helped by sturdy demand for hybrid autos, which it pioneered greater than 1 / 4 century in the past with the Prius mannequin.

The Japanese agency raised its revenue forecast for the present yr to 4.9 trillion yen ($33 billion) from 4.5 trillion anticipated beforehand. That’s nicely above a median analyst forecast of 4.6 trillion yen, in line with LSEG information.

Toyota’s working revenue for the three months to Dec. 31 totalled 1.68 trillion yen, up 75.7% a yr earlier and beating the common 1.3 trillion yen revenue estimate in a ballot of 9 analysts by LSEG.

Hybrids accounted for round one third of the full gross sales of greater than 10 million autos of its Toyota and luxurious Lexus manufacturers final yr.

Within the fiscal third quarter, hybrid gross sales soared 46%, contributing to an 11% rise in total car gross sales. By geography, North America, Toyota’s greatest market by quantity, reported the strongest development with a 28% gross sales surge.

Its house market Japan noticed gross sales develop simply 5% however reported the very best earnings and margin amongst its main markets. Japan contributed two thirds of Toyota’s quarterly revenue and generated a 20% working margin, nicely above the corporate’s total margin of 14% and North America’s 3.4%.

A weaker yen forex, which has tumbled round 10% towards the greenback since end-2022, bolstered the impression of Toyota’s sturdy world gross sales.

Toyota retained its crown because the world’s top-selling automaker for the fourth consecutive yr after posting file annual gross sales of 11.2 million autos for 2023.

However the agency is grappling with a collection of scandals at its group corporations over product certification take a look at procedures that threaten to harm its popularity for high quality and security.

Toyota’s chairman apologised final week for the inconvenience and concern attributable to misconduct at two subsidiaries and an affiliate.

($1 = 148.5400 yen)