Toyota forecasts third straight year of record net profit

Pulse Staff 05:20 - 08 May 2015

TOKYO, May 8 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp said on Friday it expected a third straight year of record profit, with rising sales in the U.S. auto market helping it to a modest improvement after a bumper year powered by foreign exchange windfalls and cost cuts.

After net profit jumped 19 percent in the year ended March to 2.17 trillion yen ($18.1 billion), the world's top-selling automaker said it expects net profit to rise 3.5 percent in the current fiscal year to 2.25 trillion yen. That's below the average estimate of 2.44 trillion yen from a Thomson Reuters survey of 27 analysts.

Toyota is forecasting operating profit will edge up 1.8 percent this year to 2.80 trillion yen. Its projections assume the dollar would average 115 yen this year - conservative compared with around 120 yen currently, boosting the value of U.S. sales converted back into the Japanese currency. ($1 = 119.9300 yen)

(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)