Honda Motor Co's operating profit likely jumped 90 percent to about 360 billion yen (about $3.9 billion) in the fiscal year that ended in March, helped by strong demand in emerging markets and a cheap yen, the Nikkei business daily reported on Friday.
That would roughly match a market consensus of 361.8 billion yen in a poll of 19 analysts in Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
It would also mark a rise from Honda's own February 3 estimate of a 69 percent rise to 320 billion yen for the year.
Honda's sales are likely to have slipped 14 percent to about 8.6 trillion yen, the Nikkei added, which is also in line with a market consensus estimate of 8.59 trillion yen in a survey of 18 analysts in Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Honda will announce its business results for the year ended last month on April 28.
The carmaker enjoyed better-than-expected sales for its CR-V sports utility vehicle and other offerings in Southeast Asia and India, while the Step Wagon minivan fared well domestically, the Nikkei said. It added that Honda currently had the best outlook among the nation's top seven automakers.
With the dollar at the mid-90 yen level in the January-March quarter, stronger than the anticipated 87 yen, the profits were likely pushed up by more than 10 billion yen, the paper said.
Quarterly earnings at Asian carmakers are set for a big improvement thanks to recovering demand and cost cuts, and analysts are turning their focus to how fast they can get back to sustained, pre-crisis growth.
