Toyota annual net profit drops by a quarter

Profits at Japanese car giant Toyota hit the skids despite record sales, the company admitted Wednesday, although it said it expected to accelerate out of trouble in the year ahead.

The maker of the Camry sedan and Prius hybrid said net profit was down 24.5 percent from its best-ever result the year before, at 1.88 trillion yen ($17 billion) in the year to March 31.

Toyota’s bottom line was pushed down by some 294 billion yen in book losses on its investment portfolio.

Senior managing officer Masayoshi Shirayanagi blamed “the deterioration of the stock market in the current period” for the investment losses. He added the figures also suffered in comparison with previous year’s 250-billion-yen boost from US tax reform.

However, the firm forecast net profit to rise 19.5 percent in the coming year to 2.25 trillion yen.

And sales rose 2.9 percent to a record 30.23 trillion yen, leaving an operating profit of 2.47 trillion yen, which was up 2.8 percent year-on-year.

Akio Toyoda, the firm’s president, noted it was the first time a Japanese company had ever logged annual sales in excess of 30 trillion yen.

The firm expects operating profit for the current year to March 2020 will increase 3.3 percent to 2.55 trillion yen. Sales are forecast to sag 0.7 percent to 30 trillion yen.

“Toyota has cruised steadily, compared with its rivals,” said analyst Satoru Takada at TIW, a Tokyo-based research and consulting firm.

“The firm largely showed a reasonable performance around the world at a time when the global market is slowing down,” he said. Takada was less bullish on the outlook of the auto industry.