Profit falls on currency woes

Monday, Nov. 1, 2004 | 9:05 a.m.

Toyota Motor Corp., the world's second-largest carmaker, had an unexpected drop in quarterly profit as a stronger yen cut the value of its overseas sales and it increased payments to minority shareholders.

Net income of the maker of Lexus sedans fell 1.5 percent to 297.4 billion yen ($2.8 billion) in the three months ended Sept. 30, less than the 320 billion yen expected by six analysts in a Bloomberg poll. Sales of the carmaker, based in central Japan's Toyota City, rose 9.4 percent to 4.52 trillion yen.

Toyota's earnings were eroded by 26.7 billion yen in payments to minority shareholders from unit such as Hino Motors Ltd., Japan's second-largest truck maker.

Investors are concerned that rising competition in the U.S., the world's largest vehicle market, may force Toyota and smaller rival Nissan Motor Co. to increase incentives to bolster sales.

archive