Toyota ekes out weakest first-quarter profit in nine years as pandemic halves car sales

Toyota Motor Corp eked out its smallest quarterly profit in nine years as the coronavirus pandemic halved its car sales and nearly wiped out its bottom line.

However, shares in Japan's top automaker rose 2.3 percent in a weaker broader market  as analysts had expected a loss, while comments from a company spokesman on a faster-than-expected sales recovery also provided support.

Toyota's operating profit plunged 98 percent to 13.9 billion yen ($131.73 million) for the three months ended June, better than a consensus estimate for a loss of 179 billion yen drawn from a Refinitiv poll of seven analysts.

The sharply lower earnings underlines the challenges the auto industry is facing because of the pandemic that has shuttered factories and kept customers out of dealerships.

Toyota reiterated its annual operating profit forecast of 500 billion yen, its weakest in nine years, arguing that the coronavirus could still hurt its brighter sales outlook.

"The pace of recovery in a number of regions has been faster than we had initially forecast," a Toyota spokesman said.

"But the virus situation continues to place many uncertainties on the business outlook ... and we see a possibility that our forecast could change."

SALES SEEN AT NINE-YEAR LOW

The maker of the RAV4 SUV crossover and the Prius gasoline hybrid expects global retail sales of 9.1 million cars this year, its lowest in nine years.

That would mark a 13 percent decline from 10.46 million last year, but is an improvement on a previous outlook for a 15 percent drop.

Toyota expects to take the most serious hit in North America, its biggest market, accounting for about a quarter of its global sales, and where it sees an annual sales drop of 14 percent.

A 62 percent tumble in the region during the first quarter led to a 50 percent slump in consolidated global sales to 1.16 million units.

But as sales have plummeted in most regions, China has been a bright spot for Toyota. Demand in the world's biggest car market recovered faster than elsewhere as the tightly controlled state has largely beaten back the pandemic and reopened its economy.

Toyota's Lexus luxury brand has been a big beneficiary of the return in demand, pushing January-July sales up 7 percent on the year thanks to online marketing campaigns during the country's lockdown. Toyota expects global sales to gradually improve through December, returning to normal in January-March 2021 to be up 5 percent on the year.

Starting in April, Toyota began using the International Financial Reporting Standards to calculate its consolidated financials results.