Honda reports 22% rise in Q3 operating profit, beating estimates
JAPAN’S Honda Motor on Friday (Feb 10) posted a better-than-expected rise of 22 per cent in third-quarter operating profit, as a weak yen helped offset rising raw material costs and lower vehicle production and sales amid shortages of computer chips.
Operating profit for the three months until Dec 31 stood at 280.4 billion yen (S$2.8 billion). That compared with an average estimate of 239.4 billion yen in a poll of 11 analysts by Refinitiv, and a 229.4-billion-yen operating profit in the same period a year earlier.
The carmaker faced setbacks in China – including the spread of Covid-19 and a chip shortage in Q3 2022 – that extended into January, with some of its dealers temporarily closing.
Sales in China in January were down by half from a year earlier, said Honda executive Eiji Fujimura.
“The impact was factored into our original plans,” he said, adding that sales were likely to recover from February.
While the carmaker cut its group unit sales by 6.1 per cent to 3.9 million vehicles from 4.1 million vehicles, largely due to the headwinds faced in China, it stuck to its annual operating profit forecast of 870 billion yen for the year until March.
That compared with an 871.3-billion-yen average forecast by 21 analysts.
Honda’s global car sales were down 8.7 per cent for the first nine months of the fiscal year compared with the same period a year earlier, the company said. REUTERS
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