A signboard with the Toyota logo in Surrey, England, August 2023
Peter Daisley | Getty Images News | Getty Images
toyota motors on Wednesday raised its operating profit forecast for the fiscal year ending in March, citing concerns about a 1.45 trillion yen hit from U.S. tariffs.
The company, which revised its operating profit forecast to 3.4 trillion yen from the initial forecast of 3.2 trillion yen, fell short of its profit forecast for the quarter ending in September.
“Despite the impact of U.S. tariffs, strong demand supported by the competitiveness of our products led to increased sales volumes and expanded value chain profits, primarily in Japan and North America,” Toyota said in its earnings report.
Below is a comparison of Toyota’s September quarter results and LSEG’s average forecast.
Sales: 12.38 trillion yen (approximately $81 billion) vs. 12.18 trillion yen Operating profit: 834.0 billion yen vs. 863.1 billion yen
The world’s largest automaker by unit sales reported a nearly 28% drop in quarterly profit from a year earlier, while sales rose more than 8%.
The company reports six-month results from April to September, with quarterly numbers calculated by CNBC based on company statements and LSEG data.
The decline in operating profit in the September quarter is the second consecutive decline since the US introduced “reciprocal” tariffs in April. The Japanese government signed a trade agreement with the United States in July that lowered export tariffs to the United States to 15% from the 25% originally proposed by President Donald Trump. The 15% tariff went into effect on August 7th.
The value of automobile shipments from Japan to the United States has decreased significantly, with the export value decreasing by 24.2% in September, which was slightly lower than the 28.4% decrease in August.
On a sales volume basis, Toyota continues to enjoy strong demand worldwide. The company recently reported that car sales, including its luxury brand Lexus, reached 5.3 million units in the nine months to September, an increase of 4.7% from a year earlier.
The company said it will continue to focus on increasing sales volume, reducing costs and increasing profits.
