Honda Motor Corp has raised its full-year profit forecast by 18 percent on a quicker-than-expected recovery from the March 11 earthquake. Honda may post net income of 230 billion yen ($2.96 billion) in the year ending March 31, 2012, compared with an earlier forecast of 195 billion yen, it said in a statement Monday. The automaker posted a profit of 534 billion yen in the year-earlier period. Honda and other Japanese carmakers are recovering from the earthquake and tsunami in March, which damaged car factories and caused parts and power shortages. The automaker now expects to sell 4 percent more vehicles this fiscal year compared with its outlook in June. It raised the 12-month sales forecast by 4.8 percent to 8.7 trillion yen, up from a previous estimate for 8.3 trillion yen, the automaker said.
Honda said first-quarter net income plunged 88 percent after the March 11 earthquake disrupted production and the strong yen cut earnings from exports. The carmaker posted 31.8 billion yen in net income in the three months ended June 30, compared with 272 billion yen a year earlier. Honda was expected to post a net loss of 36.2 billion yen, according to the mean of eight analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales fell 27 percent to 1.7 trillion yen from 2.4 trillion yen.
