Honda cuts profit viewpoint again as Q3 earnings fall over

Dropping sales in North America and Europe sent operating profit at Honda Motor Co. declining 63 percent in the third quarter, pushing the firm to hack its outlook again.

Honda now looking forward to operating profit of 140 billion yen ($1.46 billion) in the financial year ending March 31, compared with a former forecast of $1.88 billion. The novel target, released just a month after a former downgrade, stands for an 81.1% tumble from previous year.

Honda says it will considerably cut capital and R&D costs.
For the October to December third quarter, the Japanese automaker's operating profit diminished 62.9% to $1.07 billion from the year preceding to. Sales slid 16.8% to $26.39 billion.

Big sales turned down in North America, Europe and Japan hammered on the whole earnings. In the meantime, the yen's dramatic boost against the dollar and euro lopped off more than $1 billion from Honda's third-quarter operating returns.

"We anticipate it to continue like this for the initial half of the year," Executive Vice President Koichi Kondo said here while proclaiming results today.

"We may only hope it enhances in the second half."