Toyota roars back with robust profit forecast

A standout: A Toyota booth at the 89th Geneva International Motor Show in Switzerland. The world’s No. 1 automaker now stands primed for the V-shaped Covid recovery eluding many of its peers. — Reuters

TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp unveiled a 250 billion yen (US$2.3bil or RM9.5bil) share buyback and expects to return to pre-pandemic profitability in the current fiscal year as its ability to keep churning out vehicles amid a global shortage of automotive chips puts it in a prime position to capitalise on swiftly recovering demand for cars.

The Japanese automaker forecast 2.5 trillion yen in operating profit for the 12 months that will end in March, compared with a 2.4 trillion yen profit in fiscal 2019, before the pandemic.