Honda net profit plunges 60.4%

PanARMENIAN.Net - Honda Motor said on Friday, April 27 its net profit for the fiscal year to March plunged 60.4 percent from the previous year due to Japan's quake-tsunami disaster, flooding in Thailand and the strong yen, AFP reported.

Group net profit for the period came to 211.5 billion yen ($2.6 billion), down from 534.1 billion yen a year earlier, the company said.

Its full-year sales were down 11.1 percent to 7.95 trillion yen and operating profit dropped 59.4 percent to 231.4 billion yen.

The slump was "mainly caused by temporary suspension of production and production adjustments as a result of the Great East Japan Earthquake... as well as flooding in Thailand, and unfavourable foreign currency translation effects," it said in a statement.

Japanese automakers saw extensive damage to their supply chains as a result of last year's earthquake and tsunami in Japan and flooding in Thailand in the autumn.

A high yen also ate into exporters' sales and profits.

Japanese automakers have come under pressure from the value of the currency, which last year hit record highs against the dollar, making exports relatively more expensive overseas and cutting the value of repatriated earnings.

For the current fiscal year to March 2013, Honda forecasts a swift recovery, projecting net profit at 470 billion yen and operating profit at 620 billion yen on sales of 10.3 trillion yen.