Toyota Boosts Pretax Profit 27%

Toyota Motor Corp. posted an operating profit of 763 billion yen ($6.5 billion) in its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, thanks to strong sales in North America that reduced shrinkage in other markets.

Unit sales in October-December dropped 2% to 2.3 million cars and trucks worldwide. Volume rose 7% to 712,500 units in North America but fell in Japan (-8% to 497,900 vehicles) and Asia (-11% to 421,700).

Revenue for the period rose 9% to 7.2 trillion yen ($61 billion), led by a 24% jump in North America to 2.7 trillion yen ($23 billion). Quarterly net income grew 14% to 600 billion yen ($5.1 billion).

Operating profits were bolstered by the weak yen, which contributed 145 billion yen ($1.2 billion) in the fiscal third quarter.

The prospects of continued weakness in Japan's currency prompted Toyota to raise its operating profit forecast by 200 billion yen to 2.7 trillion yen ($23 billion) for the period ending March 31. The company now expects full-year revenue of 27 trillion yen ($230 billion) and net income of 2.1 trillion yen ($18 billion).

Toyota says it expects to sell 9.0 million vehicles in the current fiscal year compared with a record 9.12 million in the previous 12-month period.