Hit by fall in vehicle sales and currency fluctuation, Japanese car maker Honda Motor reported 56 per cent decline in its profit to 54 billion yen for the September quarter.
The entity had profits worth 123.3 billion yen in the same period a year ago, it said in a statement today.
The decline in the bottom line was mainly on account of "decreased sales in automobile business and the unfavourable impact of currency translation".
However, unlike many other auto makers worldwide, Honda has managed to tackle the financial crisis in a better manner especially with good sales of motorcycles. Rattled by the turmoil, many have skid deep into the red while American entities like General Motors and Chrysler were forced into bankruptcy restructuring.
Honda's second quarter net sales and other operating revenues tumbled 27 per cent to 2.06 trillion yen.
Indicating that the worst could well be over for the auto market, Honda has presented an upbeat outlook for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010. The company has more than doubled its full-year profits forecast to 155 billion yen from 55 billion yen projected in July.
Further, the car maker nearly tripled its operating income projection to 190 billion yen for fiscal year 2009-10 as against the earlier estimate of 70 billion yen.
