Toyota Motor reported another step in its uneven road to recovery Wednesday, saying that income for the fiscal year that ended in March had tumbled, but that it expected profit for the current year to more than double to ¥760 billion, helped by new models and a pickup in the global economy. þþþToyota, the world’s second-largest automaker by vehicle sales after General Motors, has been languishing far below the heights it hit in 2008, when it raked in a record ¥1.72 trillion, or $21.5 billion. þþBut after posting a historic loss shortly thereafter in the global economic crisis, Toyota has struggled to grow, for reasons both of its own creation and beyond its control. First, a recall crisis greatly hampered a rebound, even as the economy pulled back from the brink; then an upswing in the yen weighed on Toyota’s profits. þþLast year, Japan’s natural and nuclear disasters, as well as flooding in Thailand, wreaked havoc on production lines and again marred hopes of a robust recovery. Analysts say it may be difficult for Toyota to fully recover without shifting more production out of Japan, where the strong yen has made manufacturing much more expensive. þþThe Toyoda City-based auto maker said Wednesday that net income for the þþ12 months through March had fallen 31 percent from a year earlier to ¥283.6 billion, largely because of the impact of those disasters and the strong Japanese currency. þþThat decline overshadows a heroic comeback in the January-March quarter, when profit more than quadrupled to ¥121 billion compared with that of a year earlier. Toyota has raced to mend supply lines severed by the tsunami and ramp up production, beating its own estimates in bringing factories back online. þþThe maker of the Corolla compact and the Prius gas-electric hybrid said an aggressive new model lineup, as well as strength in major markets like the United States and Japan, would help it further boost profit to ¥760 billion in the year through March 2013. It also said it expected sales in emerging markets to grow at a healthy clip. þþThose projections would amount to Toyota’s best annual performance yet since the 2009 plunge, though the forecast still fell short of a ¥817.7 billion average predicted by 21 analysts polled by Bloomberg. Toyota said it expected to sell 8.7 million vehicles, an increase of 1.35 million from a year earlier, and for revenue to climb 18 percent to ¥22 trillion. þþToyota also announced a year-end dividend of ¥30 per share, to be proposed at the general shareholders meeting in June. þþ“In recent years, we have suffered periods of hardship. This year, I am determined to show tangible results of all our internal efforts in order to reward our stakeholders who supported us during these difficult times,” Akio Toyoda, chief executive at Toyota and the grandson of the company founder, said in prepared remarks. þþShares in Toyota closed flat at ¥3,145 in Tokyo before the announcement. The auto maker’s shares have gained 22.6 percent this year, outperforming a 6.9 percent rise in the wider Nikkei index. þþAmong new models from Toyota this year are the new Prius C hybrid subcompact, released in Japan in December and in North America in March, and a new fully electric vehicle, the RAV4, which the Japanese automaker developed with the Silicon Valley startup, Tesla Motors. þþChina’s securities regulator is considering allowing foreign companies to directly issue bonds that will trade on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, two sources, including one with direct knowledge of the situation, told Reuters on Wednesday. þþThe China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Shanghai Stock Exchange have been studying the plan since late last year, the source said, adding that there was no timetable for a final decision on the proposal. þþA second source at a brokerage said she had been briefed by on the project this week. None of the sources was authorized to speak on the record þ
Source: NY Times
