Business

Toyota posts $1.7B profit, raises annual forecast
by Magdalena Rosova

The world's biggest automaker Toyota Motor Corp. faces spreading safety problem that worsen its image. However, it managed to return to profit in last quarter in 2009 and its annual earnings forecast jumped. Toyota reported a net profit of $1.7 billion for the last quarter and also strong sales of the “green” model Prius. A year earlier Toyota reported loss 164.7 billion yen. Jan 21 Toyota announced faulty gas pedals which was followed by massive recalls and U.S. suspended sales of eight of its popular models. Repair costs will definitely lower Toyota's earnings in this current quarter. Anyway, Toyota raised its annual earnings forecast and after bad year of losing money it is now back in game. Toyota expects a profit of 80 billion yen for this year, although earlier forecast was a 200 billion yen loss. Toyota also raised its full-year vehicle forecast from 7.03 million to 7.18 million units. Toyota is recalling about 4.5 million vehicles in U.S., Europ! e and China to fix a sticky gas pedal. First recall involving floor mats that can get jammed in the accelerator was late last year. Together it is 7 million vehicles worldwide, though some cars have both problems. Toyota's safety fiasco is accompanied by huge wave of complains all over the world, this week about 180 complaints came from U.S. And Japan regarding difficulties with Prius hybrid. Tokyo Stock Exchange shows that Toyota's shares are continuously falling down. The shares fell 3.5 percent from the 5.7 the previous day. Since Jan. 21 when Toyota announced recalls, its shares has fallen about 22 percent.

by Magdalena Rosova for SigEx Ventures (http://sigexventures.com)

SigEx Ventures's matrix of properties are quickly becoming leaders in digital! telebroadcasting, free content delivery allowing people to ea! sily tal k, view, upload and share through free online TV broadcasting, free unlimited global calls, video blogs and SMS. SigEx Ventures invests in projects deploying "free" to add-on royalty revenue models

posted by Blog TechSource @ 11:54 PM