Toyota has record H1 current profit

NEW YORK, Oct 23, 2002 Reuters reported that Toyota Motor Corp is expected to post a record group current profit of 760 billion yen ($6.1 billion) in the six months ended September due to cost cutting and a stellar U.S. performance, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

Toyota, Japan's largest and the world's third-biggest automaker, will likely see a jump of 44 percent in current profit from the year before on group sales of 7.8 trillion yen, up 14 percent, the paper said in its Wednesday online edition.

The paper gave no sources and a Toyota spokesman in New York declined to comment, though he did confirm the automaker's U.S. sales were improving into 2003.

Toyota is due to announce half-year earnings next Wednesday. Unlike other Japanese firms, the carmaker does not provide prior estimates for first-half or full-year earnings.

The newspaper said the company was able to save 100 billion yen in the first-half from cutting procurement costs.

Operating profit likely came in at around 720 billion yen, up 42 percent, helped in part by the weakening yen, the report said.

In the full year through March 2003, group current profit is seen rising 23 percent to 1.37 trillion yen, a record high for the third consecutive year.

By increasing output in the Unites States and Europe in the second-half, group full-year revenue will likely climb 3 percent to around 15.5 trillion yen, the Nihon Keizai said.