Suzuki posts 11% fall in third quarter profit on slowing India demand

TOKYO: Suzuki Motor Corp reported on Friday an 11% fall in third-quarter operating profit to its lowest in roughly three years as vehicles sales in Japan, Pakistan and Thailand slipped, while demand in India, its biggest market, stayed weak.

Japan’s fourth-largest automaker posted an operating profit of 51.8 billion yen ($471.34 million) for the October-December quarter, its lowest since the March 2016 quarter and down from 58 billion yen a year ago.

It was below an average profit forecast of 58.4 billion yen from nine analysts according to Refinitiv data.

Suzuki kept its forecast for full-year operating profit to drop 40% to 200 billion yen, a four-year low and a long way off its record high of 374.2 billion yen hit in the business year ended in March 2018.

Suzuki said on Friday it was considering sourcing vehicle components from outside China, as the spread of a new coronavirus in the country threatens to disrupt vehicle production in its biggest market, India.

Suzuki does not produce or sell any cars in China, but procures some components there for its plants in India, where it controls around half of the passenger vehicle market via its local unit Maruti Suzuki India.