Honda raises annual profit forecast after beating quarterly view
FILE PHOTO: A Honda Crider Sport Hybrid vehicle is seen displayed at the GAC Honda booth during a media day for the Auto Shanghai show in Shanghai, China April 19, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song
TOKYO : Japan's Honda Motor Co posted on Wednesday a smaller-than-expected drop in first-quarter operating profit and hiked its full-year outlook, as a weaker yen helped ease some of the pain from curtailed production and increased material costs.
Operating profit for the three months ended June 30 fell 9 per cent to 222.2 billion yen ($1.65 billion), beating an average estimate of 200.2 billion yen in a poll of 10 analysts by Refinitiv.
In the same period a year earlier, Honda reported a 243.2 billion yen profit.
It raised its operating profit forecast to 830 billion yen from 810 billion yen for the year ending March 31.
Like other automakers, Honda's production was hit by the global semiconductor shortage and China's COVID-19 lockdowns that disrupted supplies of parts.
Honda was forced to slash production at domestic factories by as much as 50 per cent at one point during the April-June quarter.
It had said production at those plants would return to normal in early June but then adjusted plans for August, hampered by logistical and supply chain snags.
($1 = 134.9800 yen)
