Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp posted an 80 percent drop in quarterly operating profit hit by a stronger yen and declining sales, and it kept its annual forecasts amid an uncertain outlook for global vehicle demand.
Suzuki, Japan's fourth-biggest automaker and known for its penny-pinching expertise, made an operating profit of 6.86 billion yen ($72.41 million) in the April-June quarter, down from a profit of 33.8 billion yen a year earlier and compared with a consensus estimate for a 2.9 billion yen profit in a survey of six analysts by Thomson Reuters.
It earned a net 2.14 billion yen in the first quarter, down 92 percent from 26.0 billion yen a year earlier. Revenue fell 37 percent to 577.1 billion yen as car sales declined 12.4 percent to 541,000 vehicles.
Bigger Japanese rivals Honda Motor Co and Nissan Motor Co surprised markets last week with unexpected first-quarter profits, which they attributed largely to deeper cost cuts rather than anticipation of a recovery in demand.
Suzuki has been able to offset some of the sales plunge in developed markets with big growth in India, where it is the top-selling brand through unit Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.
Last month, Maruti Suzuki, in which Suzuki owns 54.2 percent, unexpectedly reported a rise in April-June net profit driven by brisk export demand for the new A-Star hatchback, higher selling prices and lower raw materials costs.
That helped Suzuki outsell France's Renault SA in the first half of 2009 to rank No.9 in global auto sales.
