Honda raises full-year profit forecast after beating expectations in Q1 | Photo credits: Mike Mozart / CC BY 2.0
TOKYO, Aug 10 (Reuters) – Honda Motor on Wednesday reported a smaller-than-expected drop in first-quarter operating profit and upgraded its outlook for the full year, lower yen helped to mitigate the effects of lower production and higher material costs.
Operating profit for the quarter ended June 30, the first of the Japanese group’s staggered fiscal year, fell 9% to 222.2 billion yen (1.61 billion euros), exceeding 200, 2 billion yen expected by the 10 analysts polled by Refinitiv.
In the same period the previous year, Honda had posted a profit of 243.2 billion yen.
The automaker raised its annual operating profit forecast to 830 billion yen from 810 billion yen previously.
Like other automakers, Honda’s production has been hit by global semiconductor shortages and COVID-19-related lockdowns in China, which have disrupted parts supply.
Honda was even forced, during the April-June quarter, to reduce the production of its national factories by almost 50%.
The maker of the hugely popular Honda Accord had said production at those plants would return to normal in early June, a plan it had to push back to August due to logistics and supply chain issues. (Satoshi Sugiyama report; French version Valentine Baldassari, edited by Kate Entringer)