Japan’s Honda sees quarterly profit slide

Honda’s fiscal fourth quarter profit slipped to almost half of what the Japanese automaker earned the previous year as it endured supply shortages and rising raw materials costs.

Tokyo-based Honda Motor Co. reported Friday that its profit was 124.8 billion yen ($967 million) in the January-March quarter, down 41% from 213.3 billion yen a year earlier. Quarterly sales edged 7% higher to 3.88 trillion yen ($30 billion).

Honda said it is cutting costs but acknowledged continuing uncertainty over supplies and production for various reasons, such as Chinese lockdowns to battle coronavirus outbreaks.

The semiconductor shortage has hurt sales, despite strong demand for Honda models, the company said. Honda was securing alternative suppliers, it said.

In the fiscal year that ended in March, Honda posted a 707 billion yen ($5.5 billion) profit, up 7.6% from 657 billion yen the year before. Sales totaled 14.6 trillion yen ($113 billion) sales, up 10.5% on year.

Honda sold about 4 million vehicles for the fiscal year, down from 4.5 million vehicles. Vehicle sales dropped in Japan, the U.S. and the rest of Asia.