TOKYO (AP) – Honda Motor Corp said yesterday that its fiscal second quarter profit rose nearly 14 per cent as a weaker yen boosted its overseas earnings and strong demand raised sales of its vehicles and motorcycles.
Tokyo-based Honda reported a July-September profit of JPY189.2 billion yen. Quarterly sales rose 25 per cent. Honda Group sold nearly five million motorcycles in the last quarter, up from 4.2 million motorcycles a year earlier. It sold 970,000 vehicles, up from 917,000.
The maker of the Civic, Accord and Clarity fuel cell models said in a statement that its operations were hurt by a semiconductor shortage that has slammed the global auto industry. Rising costs for raw materials also ate into profits.
But the company was helped by favourable currency fluctuations, price increases, reductions in sales incentives and growth in its motorcycle sales.
A weak yen boosts the earnings of Japanese exporters like Honda when translating overseas revenue into yen. Honda expects to earn JPY725 billion for the fiscal year, up from an earlier projection for JPY710 billion profit, and an improvement from the 707 billion profit racked up the previous fiscal year.
