Toyota nearly doubles Q1 operating profit, shares rise

TOKYO  -Toyota nearly doubled its operating profit in the first quarter, it said on Tuesday, as the Japanese automaker was lifted by both increased sales and production volumes as well as the tailwind from the weaker yen.

The world’s top-selling automaker said operating profit for the three months through June totaled 1.12 trillion yen ($7.85 billion), an increase of 94 percent from a year earlier and handily beating the average 945.22 billion yen profit estimate in a poll of 10 analysts by Refinitiv.

Last year’s operating profit was 578.66 billion yen in the first quarter.

Toyota maintained its forecast for a 3.0 trillion yen profit for the current year, versus a 3.6 trillion yen average forecast from 23 analysts.

Toyota shares, which were up 1.15 percent just before the release of the earnings, extended their gains immediately after and were up 2.8 percent at 2,453 yen by 0434 GMT.

($1 = 142.7200 yen)