1 Feb 2012

Honda profit down

10:32 am on 1 February 2012

Honda has announced a 41% drop in quarterly profit, as it continues to feel the impact of Japan's March disasters, the floods in Thailand and the high yen.

Net profit for the third quarter fell to 47.6 billion yen ($US624 million) from 81.1 billion yen a year earlier.

Sales for the three month period fell 8% to 1.94 trillion yen.

The company also slashed its annual forecast. It now expects a net profit of 215 billion yen for the year to March.

The BBC reports Honda was the slowest carmaker to recover from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011.

It also has a factory in Thailand, which has been closed since October's floods. It expects to resume production there at the end of March.

Honda's global output dropped by a fifth in 2011 to 2.9 million cars, slipping below 3 million for the first time in eight years.