Honda Lowers Profit Forecast

Japan's

lowered its profit outlook for the full year. For the year to March 31, Honda now projects an operating profit of 720 billion yen ($6.1 billion), versus its earlier forecast of 770 billion yen. It now projects a profit of 545 billion yen ($4.6 billion), versus its earlier outlook of 565 billion yen ($4.8 billion). In the three months ended December, Honda's quarterly operating profit tumbled 22.5% to 177.2 billion yen, versus a year-ago profit of 228.57 billion yen. However, analysts were expecting a profit of 189.11 billion yen. Honda's net profit for the quarter declined 15.1% y/y to Yen136.5 billion. Its sales rose around 9% to 3.29 trillion yen ($27.9 billion). For this fiscal year, Honda now projects to sell 4.45 million cars, versus its prior forecast of 4.62 million cars. In Japan, the company now projects to sell 790,000 cars this year, versus previous forecast of 890,000 cars. Honda's shares gained 0.49% to close at $30.63 yesterday.