Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp on Thursday posted a 43.8 per cent jump in its first-quarter operating profit, a sixth consecutive year-on-year rise, boosted by strong sales growth in India, its biggest market, and at home.
The operating profit for Japan's No. 4 automaker came in at 85.1 billion yen ($769 million) in April–June, up from 59.2 billion yen a year ago. This is also above an average forecast of 73.96 billion from eight analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The sales in India—which accounts for roughly half of the compact carmaker's global vehicle sales— rose by 14.3 per cent. Suzuki's sales in Japan rose 8.1 percent, while sales in Europe rose 19.8 percent.
The company has the majority stake (56.2 per cent) in Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the country's largest automaker. The company’s Baleno compact hatchback and Vitara Brezza compact SUV dominate the Indian market. Last week Maruti Suzuki posted a quarterly profit that missed estimates even though sales grew steadily because of a rise in commodity prices and due to the impact of a new nationwide sales tax which ate into earnings.
Despite the quarterly rise, the automaker allowed its forecast for the full-year operating profit to slide 10 per cent to 240 billion yen. This is because it expects increased research and development costs to offset continued sales growth in India and Europe.