Toyota expected to post record profit

JAPAN'S top auto company, Toyota Motor Corporation is expected to report a record operating profit of 2.25 trillion yen ($22 billion) for the year to March, up 20 per cent, a report said today.

The figure marks the seventh consecutive year of record profits on the back of brisk shipments overseas, particularly in North America, as well as a weak yen, the Nikkei business daily reported, without citing sources.

Sales for the fiscal year are estimated at nearly 24 trillion yen, up roughly 10 per cent, the newspaper said.

Despite recent increases in material costs, Japan's largest auto maker also expects growing profits in the year ending March 2008, the daily said.

Toyota's current forecasts for the year to March 2007 are a net profit of 1.55 trillion yen and an operating profit of 2.20 trillion yen on revenue of 23.2 trillion yen.

Although shipments were sluggish domestically as well as in Indonesia and some other parts of Asia, they remained robust in the key US and European markets, the Nikkei said.