Subaru’s full-year profit rises 16% on recovery from production delay

TOKYO: Subaru Corp has posted a 15.7% rise in annual operating profit in the year that ended in March as it recovered from production delays and product recalls last year, but warned of uncertainties from the coronavirus outbreak this year.

Profit was 210.3 billion yen (Us$1.96bil) for the year just ended, up from 181.7 billion yen a year earlier under international financial reporting standards.

It exceeded a consensus estimate of 204.7 billion yen profit drawn from 17 analysts polled by Refinitiv.

Subaru declined to give an earnings forecast for the current business year, citing uncertainties about the longer-term impact of the coronavirus outbreak on its operations and sales.

It saw a 3% rise in global vehicle sales in the year to March to 1.03 million units, bouncing back from last year, when a defective steering component and measures to improve inspection tests had stopped output for two weeks at its sole assembly plant in Japan.

The automaker managed to grow sales for the year despite a 40% drop in global sales in March, when vehicle plants and car showrooms around the world began to close due to coronavirus lockdown measures ordered in many countries.

The automaker resumed limited vehicle production at its plants in Japan and the United States on May 11 after weeks of closure.

Though global automakers have begun to restart vehicle plants, anaemic demand, supply chain disruptions and social distancing measures at factories are expected to limit output in the coming months.

Some analysts believe industry-wide global auto sales could slump by a third this year and that any recovery will be slow and patchy as job losses and reduced incomes weigh on consumer spending.

In Western markets, the Subaru brand has traditionally been popular among a dedicated core of buyers. Marketing is targeted towards specific niches centered on those who desire the company’s signature drive train engine, all-wheel/rough-road capabilities or affordable sports car markets.— Reuters