Toyota says April-June net profit up 4.6% to $5.7 bn

Japanese auto giant Toyota said Tuesday its net profit in the three months through June rose 4.6% to $5.7 billion, largely thanks to cost-cutting and a weak yen.

Japanese auto giant Toyota said Tuesday its net profit in the three months through June rose 4.6% to $5.7 billion, largely thanks to cost-cutting and a weak yen.

The world's biggest automaker said it earned 587.8 billion yen ($5.7 billion) in the quarter, up from 562.2 billion yen a year earlier, as sales rose 2.2% to 6.39 trillion yen.

The firm said it sold 2.24 million vehicles globally in the quarter, slightly up from a year earlier.

It kept its annual earnings forecast unchanged, projecting a net profit of 1.78 trillion yen on sales of 25.7 trillion yen for the fiscal year through March 2015.

"Major factors contributing to the increase included cost reduction efforts...and currency fluctuations," Toyota said in a statement.

The Japanese auto industry has benefited from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's bid to kickstart the long-lumbering economy, with huge monetary easing measures from the premier's hand-picked team at the Bank of Japan helping push down the currency.

The weaker yen boosts Japanese manufacturers' bottom lines by making them more competitive overseas and inflating repatriated overseas profits.