Toyota Motor Corp operating profit falls 52%May 11, 2011 - 11:13 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Toyota Motor Corp posted a 52 percent fall in quarterly operating profit on Wednesday, May 11, and gave no annual forecasts, as expected, as it struggles to measure the scope of the disruption to production after the March 11 earthquake. The world's biggest automaker is facing another tough year as a severe shortage of parts caused by Japan's biggest earthquake on record hammers production just as it was putting its recall woes behind it. President Akio Toyoda said the automaker should see a pick-up in output from June to 70 percent of prequake plans, earlier than expected on April 22 when it forecast a return to full production by November or December from less than half of planned volumes now. It did not specify how fast it would get there. On Tuesday Toyota denied a Nikkei newspaper report that normal production would come two to three months earlier than planned. The massive hit to production will almost certainly mean Toyota will fall behind General Motors Co and possibly Volkswagen AG to rank third in global vehicle sales this year, AP reports. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | IDBank, Dalma team up for Caucasian Deer Reintroduction Program IDBank has joined Dalma Garden Mall’s Green Challenge to support the Caucasian red deer reintroduction project. Through Ucom’s support the 12th Sunchild Festival concludes On May 24-28, with the support of Ucom, the 12th international environmental festival Sunchild took place in Yerevan. U.S., Turkey emphasize importance of Armenia-Azerbaijan peace deal Jake Sullivan and Akif Cagatay Kilic have discussed the normalization process between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenia coach expects good football in Slovenia friendly The Armenian national team has left for Ljubljana a friendly match against Slovenia on June 4. |