Profits double at Japanese carmaker Toyota

Profits at Japanese carmaker Toyota nearly doubled, boosted by the weakness of the yen and cost cutting at the world's auto maker.

The company made a net profit of ¥1.82 trillion ($17.5 billion) in the year to 31 March, up from ¥962 billion a year ago. However, that was lower than its February forecast of ¥1.9 trillion profit.

Japan's firms, especially the exports reliant ones, had benefited from a weak yen, which helped increase their profits when they repatriated their overseas earnings back home.

The Japanese yen had weakened by nearly 18 per cent against the US dollar since the start of 2013 as the government pushed aggressive policy measures.

According to Toyota, the world's biggest carmaker, the yen's weakness pushed up its profits by nearly ¥900 billion over the past financial year.

The firm also issued a forecast that was weaker-than-expected for the current financial year. It expected profits to fall to ¥1.78 trillion in the financial year to 31 March 2015.

According to the firm, its sales in Japan would likely decline this year and that it expected to sell nearly 1.45 million units of its Toyota and Lexus brand vehicles in Japan in the current financial year, as against 1.65 million in the previous 12 months.

Analysts had been cautious about prospects for Japan's auto sector this year, given the rise in the country's sales tax.

Toyota also posted an operating profit of ¥2.29 trillion for the year to March, as against an operating profit of ¥1.32 trillion a year before, even as sales increased 16.4 per cent to ¥25.69 trillion.

The carmaker projected an operating profit of ¥2.3 trillion for the current financial year through March 2015, a net profit of ¥1.78 trillion and sales of ¥25.7 trillion.

The January-to-March quarter saw Toyota report an operating profit of ¥436.1 billion, down 13.2 per cent from the same period last year, even as it booked a net profit of ¥297 billion, down 5.4 per cent from a year earlier. Sales meanwhile, increased 12.5 per cent to ¥6.57 trillion for the quarter.