Toyota Motor Corp. trimmed its outlook for fiscal year 2020 to reflect an exchange rate assumption of ¥106 per $1, despite seeing a rise in fiscal first-quarter earnings that beat analysts' expectations.
"There is a ¥180 billion negative impact relating to the changes of forex rate assumptions. In order to offset such impact even slightly, we plan on an additional ¥25 billion positive effect of profit improvement activities through cost reductions and reductions in expenses," Toyota Operating Officer Kenta Kon said.
For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020, the Japanese carmaker now expects a 14.2% rise in net income attributable to the company to ¥2.150 trillion, versus its previous forecast of a 19.5% growth to ¥2.250 trillion, issued in March. It expects basic EPS to be ¥754.71, lower than the initial target of ¥788.37, while revenue is expected to fall 2.4% to ¥29.500 trillion from an earlier guidance of ¥30 trillion.
Toyota also expects operating income for the fiscal year to fall 2.7% to ¥2.400 trillion, compared to its prior guidance of a 3.3% year-over-year increase to ¥2.550 trillion.
For the three-month period ended June 30, the company's attributable net income climbed 3.9% year over year to ¥682.97 billion, ahead of the S&P Global Market Intelligence consensus GAAP net income estimate of ¥628.84 billion.
Diluted EPS was ¥237.22, up from ¥222.33 in the year-ago period, while basic EPS was ¥239.64, also up from ¥224.67 last year and from analysts' consensus estimate of ¥222.69, compiled by Market Intelligence.
Revenue during the fiscal first quarter jumped 3.8% to ¥7.646 trillion from ¥7.363 trillion as vehicle sales grew to 2.3 million units from 2.2 million.
Sales in Toyota's home market of Japan grew to 555,291 units from 510,339 units the prior year. Sales in Europe and Asia also grew during the fiscal quarter, offsetting a decrease in sales in North America, which only totaled 743,576 units from 741,017 in the same period last year.
Costs and expenses during the first fiscal quarter were ¥6.904 trillion, up from ¥6.680 trillion a year ago.
Toyota's stock was trading 2.74% lower at ¥6,898 in mid-afternoon Tokyo trading.
As of Aug. 1, US$1 was equivalent to ¥108.24.