Toyota more than doubles full-year profit forecast

Nov 07 (NHK) - Japanese auto giant Toyota is managing to turn a profit despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Its results are in positive territory for the first half of this fiscal year with a strong outlook for the whole period.

Company executives say cost-cutting efforts are bearing fruit. A rebound in vehicle sales is also helping the bottom line.

Toyota's net profit forecast for the year ending in March is 1.4 trillion yen, or about 13.7 billion dollars. That's up about 95 percent from the previous estimate.

The company is also revising its operating profit outlook by 160 percent.

The automaker expects to sell 9.4 million vehicles globally over the same period, an uptick of 300,000 units from its last sales projection.

Toyota Motor President Toyoda Akio said "Our plants that were suspended by COVID-19 are back in operation. That return to work has been energizing on many levels. Let's make automobiles a driving force of the Japanese economy. We're moving in a positive direction thanks to the committed efforts of our workforce."

While Toyota's latest earnings result shows the group managed to stay in the black during the difficult April-to-September period, sales and net income were down by double digits compared with a year earlier.

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