Toyota announced today a more than £1bn annual profit for the business year that ended March 31 despite a global recession and a massive worldwide recall of vehicles due to ‘sticky’ pedals.
The announcement is welcoming news for the world’s largest automaker which posted a 437 billion yen (approximately £3.18bn) loss the year before.
Toyota is attributing its profits to slashing costs across the company and new sales incentives to get buyers behind the wheels of new vehicles.
Despite these efforts, however, the company has posted an overall decrease of 330,000 vehicles this year, totalling only 7.24 million units.
Looking forward, the company stated it is cautiously optimistic and estimates a net income of 310 billion yen (£2.25bn) in the next fiscal year to March 2011. Toyota also announced a cash dividend for the full fiscal year of 45 yen per share, to be proposed at the general shareholders’ meeting in June.
The carmaker is still trying to regain its reputation following a global recall of now more than nine million vehicles. The recalls were mostly due to fears that some Toyota models may continue to accelerate even after drivers have lifted their foot from the pedal.
Commenting on this year’s financial results, Toyota President Akio Toyoda demonstrated confidence the company will weather the storm.
‘I am sincerely grateful to our dealers and suppliers who remained fully committed to providing as many cars as possible to customers, and to our employees as well as our overseas business operations for their efforts in working together so that the company will return to its normal state as soon as possible,’ he stated. ‘And finally, above all, I am sincerely grateful to our customers of more than 7 million people around the world who newly purchased Toyota vehicles.’
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