Mazda profits from higher sales

TOKYO, JAPAN: Japanese car company Mazda on Wednesday (6 February) said it swung back to a profit for the nine month period to December as it boosted its full-year earnings forecast.

Japan's fifth-biggest car manufacturer logged a net profit of ¥25.6bn for the April-December period, reversing its net loss of ¥112.8bn a year earlier. Sales rose 8.5% to ¥1.54trn, it said.

It credited the results to higher sales and various cost-cutting measures amid falling demand in key markets. It was also hurt by the after effects of Japan's quake-tsunami disaster.

In China, Mazda sold 129,000 vehicles for the nine-month period, down 21.5% from a year earlier, but said sales are starting to recover in line with those of Toyota.

On Tuesday (5 Feburary), Toyota said the China market was improving as its net profit in the nine months to December quadrupled while it also lifted its full-year earnings outlook.

Demand for Japanese cars in China, the world's biggest vehicle market, plunged last year in the wake of a consumer boycott sparked by a territorial spat between Tokyo and Beijing over an East China Sea island chain.

Mazda said it was projecting a full-year net profit of ¥26bn, up from an earlier estimate of ¥10bn, while sales are forecast to be ¥2.19trn, compared with an earlier ¥2.17trn prediction.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge