Shares of Honda Motor Co. tumbled on Monday after the Japanese automaker warned that its full-year results will be much weaker than forecast, as a trade dispute between Tokyo and Beijing dents sales.
Shares of Honda Motor Co. (IW 1000/30) tumbled on Monday after the Japanese automaker warned that its full-year results will be much weaker than forecast, as a trade dispute between Tokyo and Beijing dents sales.
Investors dumped the shares, which fell 4.65% to 2,399 yen by the close in Tokyo, on news that the maker of the Accord and Civic will report an annual profit that is 20% lower than previously expected -- even as its first-half profit more than doubled to $2.7 billion.
Honda's stock was down 6% in earlier trade after it mistakenly released earnings three hours ahead of schedule due to a "human error."
Blaming a strong yen and weakening sales, Japan's third-biggest automaker said it now expects to earn 375 billion yen ($4.7 billion) in its fiscal year to March 2013, down from an earlier 470 billion yen forecast.
Sales are projected to fall to 9.8 trillion yen, from 10.3 trillion yen.
A Honda statement did not offer details about the Japan-China spat, but company officials told a press conference in Tokyo later Monday that the firm is cutting its full-year sales forecast in China to 620,000 vehicles, down from 750,000 units.
