Toyota Motor likely to have posted operating profit in FY 2009+

NAGOYA, April 24 Kyodo -
Toyota Motor Corp. appears likely to have swung back to a group operating
profit in the year ended March 2010, thanks to cost-cutting efforts and the yen
that weakened somewhat, overcoming charges for the massive global recalls that
marked the year for Toyota, sources familiar with the situation said Saturday.
The momentum of improvement in earnings, however, appears weaker than those of
domestic peers such as Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co., which have been
expanding sales in emerging markets such as China and India.
A Toyota executive said the company has come to see ''a considerably good
earnings situation'' as a result of reductions in costs, including personnel
expenses, involving parts manufacturers and other group companies.
Toyota registered 461 billion yen in operating loss in fiscal 2009, the first
operating loss in 71 years, as the global recession took a heavy toll on
vehicle sales worldwide. But in February this year, Toyota said the worst was
over for sales declines.
At that time, it revised its sales forecast for fiscal 2009 to 18.5 trillion
yen, up 0.5 trillion yen from its previous estimate, and sharply reduced an
operating loss projection to 20 billion yen from 350 billion yen.
In Japan, the new Prius hybrid car attracted strong demand, thanks to a sales
incentive measure for ecology friendly cars.
Toyota has estimated that the recall problem cost around 180 billion yen in
charges for handling the problem, as well as falls in sales resulting from
consumers shying away from the automaker's models in the wake of the recalls,
the sources said.
==Kyodo