| Updated:
Japan’s Toyota lifts forecasts on record worldwide car sales
TOYOTA Motor Corp yesterday lifted its annual profit guidance, banking on stronger sales in its key US market and a boost from a weaker yen which put its Japanese manufacturing in the black for the first time in five years.
But the world’s best-selling carmaker, which shipped a record number of cars last year, said it would not build any new factories over the next three years despite the pickup in its fortunes, after it was burned in the financial crisis.
The Japanese company raised its net profit forecast for the year to March by more than 10 per cent to ¥860bn (£5.87bn) on strong US sales.
Toyota posted net profit of ¥99.9bn for the three months to 31 December, up 23.5 per cent from a year ago but below the average estimate of ¥143.7bn.