As robust sales in emerging markets more than offset the negative impact of a strong yen,Mitsubishi Motors said on Oct. 28 that it swung back into the black in the six months to September.
But Mitsubishi lowered its full-year sales forecast, citing concerns over the U.S. economy, eurozone debt problems and the impact of massive flooding in Thailand. However, it left its net profit projection unchanged.
Mitsubishi Motors reported a net profit of 10.6 billion yen (US$139 million) for the April-September period, the first black ink in three years for a first half and a turnaround from the year-before loss of 4.9 billion yen.
Operating profit soared five-fold to 34.2 billion yen from 6.9 billion yen a year before, scoring the highest figure in more than a decade, said the maker of the i-MiEV, the world's first commercially produced electric car.
Sales grew 4.9% to 907.5 billion yen mainly because "wholesales of vehicles increased due to market growth in emerging countries and launches of new models," the company said in a statement.
It lowered its sales forecast for the full year to March 2012 to 1.82 trillion yen from 1.95 trillion yen.
It left unchanged its projection of net profit at 20 billion yen, which would represent a 28% rise from the previous year, and operating profit at 50 billion yen for 24% growth.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011
