Honda Motor on Wednesday raised its full-year operating profit forecast, aided by cost cutting and a weak yen despite a persistent global chip shortage.
The Japanese carmaker now expects an operating profit of 800 billion yen for this fiscal year ending March 31, up from its previous forecast of 660 billion yen.
Honda reported net profit of 582 billion yen for the nine months through December, up 31% from the same period last year.
The automotive giant reported revenue of 10.6 trillion yen for the three quarters, up 12% from a year earlier. Operating profit rose 50% to 671 billion yen.
Honda, like many manufacturers around the world, has been forced to curb production plans because of chip shortages. It expects to sell 4.2 million vehicles this fiscal year, down from 4.5 million in the previous 12 months.
Earlier this month, Honda announced that it would scale down output at its assembly plants in Japan by about 10% due to stalled supplies of components from Southeast Asia following December’s flooding in Malaysia.
Third-quarter operating profit fell 17% to 229 billion yen – higher than an average forecast of 166.2 billion yen – as the chip shortfalls curbed car production.
- Reuters, with additional editing by George Russell
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