Honda Motor on Tuesday almost tripled its group net and operating profit forecasts for the fiscal year to 31 March. It also reversed earlier loss projections and reported profits both on the operating and net levels for the April to September second quarter after aggressive cost-cutting efforts.
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For the whole of fiscal 2009, Honda said it now anticipated a net profit of JPY155bn compared with an earlier projection of JPY55bn, and operating profit of JPY190bn versus JPY70bn projected in July. It also revised upward its group sales forecast to JPY8.45 trillion from an earlier JPY8.28 trillion.
The company also revised upward its global sales forecast for four-wheel vehicles for fiscal 2009 to 3,400,000 units from 3,295,000 units projected in July. Honda said it now expects to sell 665,000 units in Japan, up from an earlier 635,000 units.
Consolidated net income for the fiscal second quarter fell 56.2% year on year to JPY54bn (US$599m), a decrease of 56.2% from the same period in 2008. Net income per share was JPY29.78 ($0.33), a fall of JPY 38.18 from JPY 67.96 last year.
Revenue of JPY2,056.6bn ($22,799m) was down 27.2% due to lower auto sales and unfavourable currency effects.
Consolidated operating income for the quarter fell 56% to JPY 65.5bn ($727m).
Automobile unit sales fell 10.4% to 838,000 units.
“The entire automobile industry worldwide is supported by tax breaks and subsidies,” Koichi Kondo, Honda’s executive vice president, said at a press conference in Tokyo.
