Japanese carmaker Suzuki Motor said Tuesday its net profit more than doubled in the first six months to September and raised its full-year earnings outlook thanks to robust sales in Asia, notably India.
Suzuki, which controls nearly half of India's booming car market through its Maruti Suzuki subsidiary, posted a net profit of 30.41 billion yen (377 million dollars) in the six months to September -- up 143 percent from 12.51 billion yen a year earlier.
Sales grew 11.6 percent to 1.32 trillion yen in the first half of the financial year to March 2011, from 1.18 trillion a year earlier.
Operating profit more than doubled to 68.81 billion yen from 31.84 billion.
Thanks to brisk sales in Asia, the company posted larger sales of 463.7 billion yen in the region -- namely India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Thailand -- up 27.7 percent from a year earlier.
For the year to March, Suzuki lifted its earnings outlook despite a higher yen, which eats into repatriated sales for Japanese exporters.