Toyota sees slight quarterly profit fall, projects recovery

TOKYO: Japan’s top automaker Toyota is reporting a 4 per cent dip in profit for January-March after vehicle sales fell in North America.

Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday its quarterly profit was 459.5 billion yen ($4.2 billion, Dh15.2 billion), down from 480.8 billion yen in the same period the previous year.

The maker of the Camry sedan, Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury models is projecting a profit of 2.25 trillion yen, or $20 billion, for the fiscal year through March 2020, up nearly 20 per cent from 1.88 trillion yen ($17 billion) for the fiscal year through March 2019.

The company said results for the fiscal year through March this year were hurt by the absence of a US tax break that boosted earnings in the previous fiscal year, and by investment losses.