Honda Motor Co will likely post an operating profit of 60 billion yen ($660 million) for the April-September first half, beating its forecast for a loss on cost-cutting and solid sales of fuel-efficient cars, the Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday.
Shares of Honda, which has forecast an operating loss of 10 billion yen for the first half, were up 0.4 percent at 2,790 yen as of 0150 GMT, outperforming a 1 percent fall in the benchmark Nikkei average.
The reported first half figure implies an operating profit of 34.8 billion yen for the July-September quarter, which would be below the average estimate for a 41.7 billion yen profit in a poll of 5 analysts by Thomson Reuters.
Honda said in a statement the Nikkei's figures were not based on anything announced by the company. Honda is scheduled to announce its first half results on Oct. 27.
First half sales at Japan's second-largest automaker likely fell 30 percent to 4.1 trillion yen, beating the company's forecast for 3.92 trillion yen, the Nikkei said.
Car sales in Japan increased 1 percent in volume terms, helped in part by government tax incentives for fuel-efficient cars. Car sales were also solid in emerging markets, the Nikkei said.
Honda's motorcycle division also performed well, helped by growing demand in India, the Nikkei said.
The car maker's results were also boosted by a weaker-than-expected yen in the July-September quarter, the Nikkei said.
Honda is now expected to record an operating profit of more than 100 billion yen for the full year to March 2010, beating its forecast of 70 billion yen, the Nikkei said.
