Despite the pandemic and microchip shortage, Toyota Motor Corp has achieved record operating profit in the latest quarter on robust sales and cost control. The company managed to keep the product pipeline pumping, despite various production challenges.
Toyota’s operating profit rose to $9.14 billion in its fiscal first quarter ended June 30, from $127.4 million the previous year, when the COVID-19 outbreak hit the automobile industry. Toyota fortified its bottom line despite the global headwinds as the results delivered a robust 12.6 percent operating profit margin for the most recent quarter, up from 0.3 percent a year earlier. The retail sales rounded out Toyota’s record results by jumping 49 percent to 2.76 million units globally.
In a statement Toyota said, it lost global sales of 100,000 units in the quarter due to the pandemic and the global microchip shortage. Sales would have been higher if inventories were not so tight, and it has been working with dealers in the U.S. for improving the flow of cars to lots.
The company is predicting that a rebound in global sales will underpin a 14 percent increase in operating profit and drive a modest 2.4 percent increase in parent-company net income.