Subaru car maker Fuji Heavy Industries on Friday reported a 23.7% slide in earnings to mark its lowest annual operating profit in six years due to weak sales in the crucial US market, Reuters reported.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Fuji Heavy’s group operating profit for the year ended March 31 at 67.52 billion yen ($US579.8 million), in line with the median forecast of 68 billion yen in a survey of 16 brokerages by Reuters Research. A year earlier, it logged a profit of 88.48 billion yen.
According to Reuters, Fuji Heavy’s fortunes stand in stark contrast to those of Japan’s top car makers, many of which have reported strong profit growth thanks mainly to their success in the US market despite depressed demand and heavy discounting by big local players.
For the year to next March, Fuji Heavy, owned 20% by General Motors, forecast an operating profit of 62 billion yen and net profit of 35 billion yen.
