Toyota profit gain too slow for upgrade
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
TOKYO, May 25 (Bloomberg): Toyota Motor Corp, the world's largest carmaker, will have insufficient profit to warrant an upgrade of its credit rating this fiscal year, Moody's Investors Service said.
Toyota, which Moody's rates the highest among global carmakers at Aa2, needs an annual operating profit of 1 trillion yen ($11 billion), more than triple its outlook for this year, before it can be considered for a higher rating, Tadashi Usui, senior analyst at the credit rating company, said in an interview in Tokyo. It also needs an operating margin of 5pc he said.
Moody's and Standard & Poor's began cutting Toyota's rating last year after the carmaker posted the first of three straight quarterly losses. Usui said recalls of more than 8 million Toyota vehicles worldwide in the past year have damaged the company's reputation, threatening to slow an earnings rebound.
Toyota, which Moody's rates the highest among global carmakers at Aa2, needs an annual operating profit of 1 trillion yen ($11 billion), more than triple its outlook for this year, before it can be considered for a higher rating, Tadashi Usui, senior analyst at the credit rating company, said in an interview in Tokyo. It also needs an operating margin of 5pc he said.
Moody's and Standard & Poor's began cutting Toyota's rating last year after the carmaker posted the first of three straight quarterly losses. Usui said recalls of more than 8 million Toyota vehicles worldwide in the past year have damaged the company's reputation, threatening to slow an earnings rebound.