Rising sales of hybrid cars helped Toyota beat estimates in the third quarter as the world’s largest automaker raised full-year profit forecasts and provided further vindication of its bet on the technology.
The Japanese company increased its operating profit forecast for its year to March to ¥4.9tn ($34bn) from ¥4.5tn and said that profit in its fiscal third quarter hit ¥1.7tn, an increase from ¥957bn a year earlier. The results beat analyst expectations, according to LSEG data, and sent its shares up 4.8 per cent by the close in Tokyo.
The carmaker said the increase was mostly owing to “to marketing efforts as sales volume increased in all regions”, especially for higher margin and hybrid electric vehicles, while the weak yen provided an additional benefit.