Toyota nets $23b profit in fiscal yr 2017-18

TOKYO, May 9 (AFP): Japanese car giant Toyota reported a record full-year net profit on Wednesday thanks to a weaker yen and US tax cuts, but warned about the outlook for the next 12 months.

Company president Akio Toyoda said the industry was facing "profound change" and pledged to transform the auto giant into "a mobility company".

Japan's leading carmaker said net profit jumped 36.2 per cent to 2.49 trillion yen ($23 billion) in fiscal year 2017-2018 (April-March). However, it expected that profit would fall 15 per cent to 2.12 trillion yen in the current year.

The boost was driven by a weaker yen and cost-cutting measures, but also US tax cuts, which have pushed up profits for other automakers in recent months.

"Toyota quickly recovered thanks to the US tax cuts and a weak yen for the last fiscal year," Satoru Takada, an analyst at TIW, a Tokyo-based research and consulting firm, told AFP ahead of the Wednesday earnings report.