Honda Motor operating income for fiscal year 2011/12) fell 59.4% year on year to JPY231.3bn (GBP1.76bn) on revenue down to JPY7,948bn from JPY8,937bn.
Though motorcycle revenue rose, Honda attributed the poor overall result to decreased automobile production due to the Japanese earthquake and the flooding in Thailand, increased R&D expenses and the strong yen.
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Net income fell 60% to JPY211.4bn yen (GBP1.61b).
However, fourth quarter operating income rose to JPY111.9bn (GBP855.7m) compared to JPY46.2bn a year ago as motorcycle sales increased 10.6% to record-high unit sales (close to 3.5m) globally for any quarter, as power products and automobile sales also rose, mainly in Japan and North America.
Acknowledging that production and profit were “severely affected by external factors during the last fiscal year”, Honda said it was “planning a strong recovery during the forthcoming year, forecasting an all-time record of 4.3m automobile sales (compared to 3.1m during the previous year) with model changes for major lines and the introduction of new models, coupled with expansion of production capacity in North America and China. It sold 3.14m cars in fiscal 2012, down 375,000. Increases in motorcycle and power product unit sales are also planned.
The FY13 operating profit forecast is JPY620bn, up 168% on fiscal 2012. Honda suggested a more reasonable comparison was with natural disaster-unaffected FY11 operating income of JPY569.7bn so the forecast is a “more understandable 9%”.
See also: INTERVIEW: Ken Keir, Executive Vice-President, Honda Motor Europe
