ID :
37040
Tue, 12/23/2008 - 11:35
Auther :
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https://oananews.org//node/37040
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Toyota expects 1st operating loss in FY 2008 on global sales slump
NAGOYA, Dec. 22 Kyodo - Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it expects its first-ever group operating loss in fiscal 2008 as shrinking global auto sales and the yen's further appreciation have dramatically changed the fortunes of Japan's No. 1 automaker.
The latest projection of a 150 billion yen operating loss for the year to March
2009 compares with a previous estimate of an operating profit of 600 billion
yen and a record operating profit of 2.27 trillion yen booked by Toyota in the
previous fiscal year.
''We are facing unprecedented emergency circumstances,'' Toyota President
Katsuaki Watanabe said at a press conference in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.
To combat rapidly worsening business conditions, Watanabe said Toyota will
either delay or review almost all projects aimed at expanding production
capacity or building new plants around the world.
Toyota plans to freeze the launch of a new factory in the U.S. state of
Mississippi and scale back production in India, he said.
For the current business year, Toyota said it is expecting a net profit of 50
billion yen, down 90.9 percent from a previous estimate of 550 billion yen made
in November and compared with a net profit of 1.72 trillion yen the year
before.
Its fiscal 2008 sales outlook was also lowered by 6.5 percent to 21.5 trillion
yen, compared with 26.29 trillion yen the previous year, because vehicle demand
has cooled at a faster pace and in a broader area, Toyota said.
As to its global automobile sales volume, Toyota also revised down its target
for calendar 2008 by 540,000 units from the previous estimate in July to 8.96
million units, including sales at two subsidiaries -- compact car maker
Daihatsu Motor Co. and truck maker Hino Motors Ltd.
The revised sales target is 4.4 percent lower than the previous year and the
first drop since 2001, when comparable data became available. In recent years,
Toyota has seen annual global sales growth of around 6 to 8 percent.
Watanabe said auto demand fell not only in the United States, Europe and Japan
but also in emerging markets that had been robust, amid increasing economic
worries.
''I cannot see where the bottom is,'' he said, referring to slumping auto sales.
In a further blow, the yen's sharp appreciation against both the U.S. dollar
and the euro ate into the automaker's earnings, prompting the firm to cut its
earnings projection for fiscal 2008 again, just about a month after it cut its
original earnings projections.
Toyota changed its assumption regarding the dollar's exchange rate in the
latter half of fiscal 2008 from 100 yen estimated last month to 93 yen, amid
the recent surge in the yen that sent the dollar down to a 13-year low at the
87 yen level.
Every 1 yen of appreciation against the dollar trims Toyota's annual operating
profit by about 40 billion yen.
Toyota's operating loss will be the first since the automaker began releasing
unconsolidated earnings results for the year through March 1941. Consolidated
earnings data became available from the business year through June 1983.
On the back of the deterioration in earnings, Toyota said it will not pay
fiscal 2008 bonuses for board members.
The revision to the earnings outlook highlights the fact that the global
economic crisis is afflicting not only the U.S. Big Three automakers -- General
Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co. -- but also Toyota, which is
vying with GM for the position as the world's largest automaker.
For 2008, the Japanese automaker, based in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, also
slashed its global production target to 9.23 million units from an earlier
target of 9.5 million units.
Given growing uncertainty over the course of its business circumstances, Toyota
did not announce its sales and output plans for 2009. Usually, the firm
announces the figures near year-end.
The global financial crisis has pressed Japanese automakers to downgrade their
earnings forecasts, reduce production, cut jobs and implement other
restructuring plans.
Earlier this month, Japan's second-largest automaker Honda Motor Co. announced
its third downward revision to its group earnings forecast for fiscal 2008 as
well as plans to withdraw from Formula One motor sports operations and to delay
the launch of plants and models.
Japan's third-largest automaker Nissan Motor Co. said last week it will further
cut auto production and reduce the number of temporary employees to zero by
next March to combat shrinking global auto sales.
==Kyodo
The latest projection of a 150 billion yen operating loss for the year to March
2009 compares with a previous estimate of an operating profit of 600 billion
yen and a record operating profit of 2.27 trillion yen booked by Toyota in the
previous fiscal year.
''We are facing unprecedented emergency circumstances,'' Toyota President
Katsuaki Watanabe said at a press conference in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.
To combat rapidly worsening business conditions, Watanabe said Toyota will
either delay or review almost all projects aimed at expanding production
capacity or building new plants around the world.
Toyota plans to freeze the launch of a new factory in the U.S. state of
Mississippi and scale back production in India, he said.
For the current business year, Toyota said it is expecting a net profit of 50
billion yen, down 90.9 percent from a previous estimate of 550 billion yen made
in November and compared with a net profit of 1.72 trillion yen the year
before.
Its fiscal 2008 sales outlook was also lowered by 6.5 percent to 21.5 trillion
yen, compared with 26.29 trillion yen the previous year, because vehicle demand
has cooled at a faster pace and in a broader area, Toyota said.
As to its global automobile sales volume, Toyota also revised down its target
for calendar 2008 by 540,000 units from the previous estimate in July to 8.96
million units, including sales at two subsidiaries -- compact car maker
Daihatsu Motor Co. and truck maker Hino Motors Ltd.
The revised sales target is 4.4 percent lower than the previous year and the
first drop since 2001, when comparable data became available. In recent years,
Toyota has seen annual global sales growth of around 6 to 8 percent.
Watanabe said auto demand fell not only in the United States, Europe and Japan
but also in emerging markets that had been robust, amid increasing economic
worries.
''I cannot see where the bottom is,'' he said, referring to slumping auto sales.
In a further blow, the yen's sharp appreciation against both the U.S. dollar
and the euro ate into the automaker's earnings, prompting the firm to cut its
earnings projection for fiscal 2008 again, just about a month after it cut its
original earnings projections.
Toyota changed its assumption regarding the dollar's exchange rate in the
latter half of fiscal 2008 from 100 yen estimated last month to 93 yen, amid
the recent surge in the yen that sent the dollar down to a 13-year low at the
87 yen level.
Every 1 yen of appreciation against the dollar trims Toyota's annual operating
profit by about 40 billion yen.
Toyota's operating loss will be the first since the automaker began releasing
unconsolidated earnings results for the year through March 1941. Consolidated
earnings data became available from the business year through June 1983.
On the back of the deterioration in earnings, Toyota said it will not pay
fiscal 2008 bonuses for board members.
The revision to the earnings outlook highlights the fact that the global
economic crisis is afflicting not only the U.S. Big Three automakers -- General
Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co. -- but also Toyota, which is
vying with GM for the position as the world's largest automaker.
For 2008, the Japanese automaker, based in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, also
slashed its global production target to 9.23 million units from an earlier
target of 9.5 million units.
Given growing uncertainty over the course of its business circumstances, Toyota
did not announce its sales and output plans for 2009. Usually, the firm
announces the figures near year-end.
The global financial crisis has pressed Japanese automakers to downgrade their
earnings forecasts, reduce production, cut jobs and implement other
restructuring plans.
Earlier this month, Japan's second-largest automaker Honda Motor Co. announced
its third downward revision to its group earnings forecast for fiscal 2008 as
well as plans to withdraw from Formula One motor sports operations and to delay
the launch of plants and models.
Japan's third-largest automaker Nissan Motor Co. said last week it will further
cut auto production and reduce the number of temporary employees to zero by
next March to combat shrinking global auto sales.
==Kyodo
