In Brief
TOKYO — Toyota’s quarterly profit rose 13.5 percent to $5.0 billion and the automaker kept its annual earnings forecast unchanged despite trimming its expectations for vehicle sales.
The company said its earnings for the July-September quarter benefited from cost cuts and a favorable exchange rate. The profit was up from the previous year, but a little short of the $5.1 billion average forecast in a FactSet survey of analysts.
Toyota sold 42,000 fewer vehicles at 2.48 million vehicles in July-September compared to the same period last year, with sales falling in Europe and Asia, including Japan. But the value of its sales increased 8 percent to $58.5 billion.
The cheap yen, a boon for Japanese exporters such as Toyota Motor because it boosts the value of overseas earnings, added $1.3 billion in operating profit for the quarter. The yen traded above 120 to the dollar during the quarter.
