Toyota says annual profit drops 21%, first fall in five years

[TOKYO] Toyota said Wednesday its annual net profit fell for the first time in five years, with the Japanese automaker unexpectedly warning of more declines as a stronger yen takes a bite out of its bottom line.

The Corolla and Prius hybrid maker posted a profit of 1.83 trillion yen (S$22.6 billion) on slightly lower revenue of 27.6 trillion yen for the recently ended year to March - well down from a record 2.31 trillion yen net profit the previous year.

Toyota said it expects to see a net profit of 1.5 trillion yen in the current year to March 2018, well off market expectations around 1.9 trillion yen.

AFP