Toyota profit drops on virus but recovery expected

Toyota Motor Corp. reported Tuesday a sharp plunge in its fiscal fourth quarter profit as the global coronavirus pandemic slammed vehicle sales and halted production at its auto plants.

Japan's top automaker logged a net profit of 63.1 billion yen (590 million US dollars) for the quarter ended in March, nose-diving 86% from 459.5 billion yen for the same period the year before.

Quarterly sales slipped 8% to 7.1 trillion yen (66 billion US dollars) from 7.8 trillion yen a year ago.

President Akio Toyoda said the company is facing its biggest crisis since the collapse of Lehman Brothers triggered the global financial crash in 2008.

But he said Toyota was learning to grow leaner and make a fresh start.

Damage from the pandemic cost Toyota 145 billion yen (1.4 billion US dollars) in operating profit for the latest quarter, offsetting cost cuts, the company said.

Toyota officials said it was difficult to project the future, given the varying degrees of lockdowns around the world and uncertainties on how the pandemic may develop.

The company did not give a net profit forecast for the fiscal year through March 2021, but acknowledged operating profit was expected to fall by 80%.

Sales are expected to recover as the pandemic is brought under control, it said.

Toyota said global vehicles sales for the fiscal year that ended in March dropped by 18,372 vehicles from the previous fiscal year to 8.9 million vehicles. They are expected to slip to 7 million vehicles for the fiscal year through March 2021, Toyota said.