Toyota sees slight quarterly profit fall, projects recovery

TOKYO – Japan’s top automaker Toyota is reporting a 4% dip in profit for January-March after vehicle sales fell in North America.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday its quarterly profit was 459.5 billion yen, or $4.2 billion, down from 480.8 billion yen in the same period the previous year.

The maker of the Camry sedan, Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury models is projecting a profit of 2.25 trillion yen, or $20 billion, for the fiscal year through March 2020, up nearly 20% from 1.88 trillion yen ($17 billion) for the fiscal year through March 2019.

The company said results for the fiscal year through March this year were hurt by the absence of a U.S. tax break that boosted earnings in the previous fiscal year, and by investment losses.