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Tokyo - Japan's number two car maker Honda posted a record $3.15bn quarterly net profit Friday, a strong comeback from a year earlier, and boosted its forecast for the year by a third.
Driven by Asia and North America sales, Honda's net profit of ¥272.49bn for the first quarter soared from ¥7.56bn in the April-June period in 2009, when the global financial crisis hammered demand.
The Tokyo-based company revised up its annual net profit forecast by 33.8% to ¥455.00bn for the year ending March 2011.
"The company posted a healthy operating profit and net profit, which both turned out to be the record high for a first quarter," said Honda vice president Koichi Kondo.
"The company saw brisk sales in all divisions, but we expect to sell more vehicles such as large-size SUVs... especially in North America."
Honda's quarterly sales rose to ¥2.36 trillion, up 17.9% from a year ago, while operating profit jumped 831.7% to ¥234.44bn.
Honda's global vehicle sales were up 17.4% on-year, thanks to increased demand in Asia and North America. Motorcycles sales jumped 28.2% on year, due to robust exports to Asia and South America.
The good performance came despite a strong yen that has hurt Japanese exporters by making their goods less competitive overseas and reducing their profits when converted back into the Japanese currency.
Kondo said Honda "has seen good performance in developing nations", especially in motorcycles and four-wheel-drive vehicles.
"When we try to make forecast for the year, what brings profit will be developing nations," he told a press conference.
"One of the reasons is that the exchange rates for those countries remain relatively stable against the yen while the yen has been getting stronger against the dollar."
Looking at global economic conditions, the company said in a statement that "signs of moderate recovery are visible in the US" but warned that "credit contraction and a high unemployment ratio remain concerns" there.
Honda expected further growth in China, India and elsewhere in Asia and said it believes the "European economy has bottomed out although persistent stagnation remains a concern".
In its home market, Honda said "economic recovery in Japan has been visible, led by the rise in consumer spending and an end to the decline in capital expenditures" but it warned that unemployment remains high.
- AFP
