Toyota Expects 2011 Profit to Rise 48%

TOKYO (TheStreet) - Toyota(TM), the world's No. 1 automaker, returned to profit in the fiscal year ended in March and forecasts profit for fiscal 2011 to rise 48%.

Toyota, plagued by recalls for much of the fiscal year, said net income for fiscal 2010 was 209.4 billion yen ($2.26 billion), a reversal from a year-earlier loss of 437 billion. Sales were 18.95 trillion yen, a decline of 7.7%.

Toyota said Tuesday that vehicle sales for the fiscal year fell by 330,000 units to 7.24 million units. In North America, vehicle sales totaled 2.1 million units, a decrease of 114,000 units.

Toyota estimates that vehicle sales for the next fiscal year will be 7.29 million units, an increase of 53,000 from fiscal 2010 because of increased sales volumes in regions outside of Japan.

Toyota said it expects profit to increase 48% to 310 billion yen for the year ending in March 2011 on net revenue of 19.2 trillion yen.

-- Reported by Joseph Woelfel in New York.

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