Toyota profits up with disaster recovery

Published:  10 May at 6 PM

As reported by the BBC, fourth quarter profits for Toyota have increased five-fold as the US car market picks up and the recovery from the 2011 natural disasters continue.

The company's net profit was 121 billion yen ($1.5 billion; £940 million) during the three months leading up to the end of March--a jump from 25.4 billion a year earlier.

Toyota's profit dropped 30 percent to 283.5 billion yen for the whole year, as a strong yen and natural disasters plagued earnings earlier during the year. The firm has predicted net profits of 760 billion yen for the current fiscal year.

President Akio Toyoda says the company's vision is to create a durable business foundation which will guarantee profitability with any type of difficult business atmosphere. Toyota's figures were adversely affected by a slew of factors during the past year.

Japan's earthquake and tsunami heavily disrupted the nation's supply chain, which resulted in production being postponed in Toyota's factories around the globe. Just as the company was recovering, it met another disaster with massive flooding in Thailand which hit production later during the year.

This loss of production damaged the firm's sales, as clients had to wait longer to see the delivery of their vehicles. However, the company has witnessed its production return to normal levels ever since then. This has also meant increased sales, particularly in the US--one of the largest markets for the firm.