Honda full-year net profit surges 56pc to $5.6b

TOKYO, Apr 25 (AFP) :  Japanese automaker Honda said Friday its fiscal year net profit soared to $5.6 billion, thanks to brisk overseas sales and a weaker yen.
The country's number three vehicle producer also got a boost as consumers at home rushed out to buy big-ticket items such as cars and refrigerators before Japan's first sales tax increase in 17 years on April 1.
The rate rise is widely seen as crucial to bringing down Japan's eye-watering national debt, but it has also fuelled fears of a drop-off in consumer spending this year just as Japan's economy is recovering.
For the year to March, Honda said it booked a net profit of 574 billion yen, up 56.4 per cent from a year earlier, while revenue rose about 20 per cent to 11.84 trillion yen.
The company forecast a profit of 595 billion yen for the current year to March 2015.
Results for the January-March quarter were especially strong, with net profit more than doubling to 170.5 billion yen from a year earlier, Honda said.