Toyota cuts forecast for full-year profit
Japan's biggest automaker also said operating profit will probably be 3.2 trillion yen, or about 22 billion dollars,
in the year ending March, compared with the previous projection for 3.8 trillion yen, or 26 billion dollars.
Toyota announced the worsening outlook after reporting profit fell in the April-to-June quarter.
Operating profit dropped 10.9 percent in the period from a year earlier. Sales jumped to a record of more than 12 trillion yen or 83 billion dollars for the quarter.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
20 minutes ago
- Japan Times
General contractor Taisei to buy out Toyo Construction
Major general contractor Taisei said Friday that it will acquire marine civil engineering company Toyo Construction for about ¥160 billion (about $1.1 billion). Taisei is aiming to buy all Toyo Construction shares partly through a tender offer. Toyo Construction expressed support for the tender offer, which will run from Tuesday to Sept. 24. Each share will be purchased at ¥1,750 in the tender offer. Both companies are listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's top-tier Prime section. The stock of Toyo Construction closed at ¥1,644 on Friday. All procedures related to the acquisition are expected to be completed at the end of December. Through the move, the two companies hope to expand their business and strengthen their earnings power while streamlining operations, amid persistent labor shortages and elevated material prices. Combined consolidated sales at Taisei and Toyo Construction in the business year to March 2025 stood at about ¥2.32 trillion, close to some ¥2.62 trillion at Obayashi, the second-largest player in the Japanese construction industry, in the same year. Yamauchi No. 10 Family Office (YFO), the asset management company for the founding family of Japanese game giant Nintendo, has an equity stake of 28.53% in Toyo Construction. Infroneer Holdings owns 20.19% of Toyo Construction through subsidiary Maeda, a Japanese general contractor. In the past, YFO and Infroneer Holdings separately proposed a tender offer to Toyo Construction. However, neither company ultimately launched such a move. YFO and Maeda are expected to sell their Toyo Construction stakes to Taisei. At a news conference Friday, Taisei Chairman Shigeyoshi Tanaka said he believes that his company and Toyo Construction will be able to leverage their respective prowess in construction projects related to decarbonization and offshore wind power generation for which demand is expected to grow. Toyo Construction Chairman Shinya Yoshida cited large benefits, such as synergy effects, for the company's decision to become a Taisei unit. The Japanese construction industry has seen other recent realignment moves. Infroneer Holdings announced in May that it would acquire Sumitomo Mitsui Construction for about ¥94 billion.
Japan Times
4 hours ago
- Japan Times
U.S. and Japan working to announce tariffs won't stack
The United States is working to finalize an announcement that would end the stacking of universal tariffs on Japanese goods, a senior Trump administration official said Friday. The plans, detailed on the condition of anonymity, would resolve prolonged confusion over how U.S. President Donald Trump intended to impose levies on a key trading partner after striking a deal, and match public comments made by Ryosei Akazawa, Tokyo's top trade negotiator, after a meeting on Thursday with his counterparts in Washington. The announcement, which could take the form of a joint statement from the two countries, would clarify that Japan — like the European Union — would see its 15% reciprocal tariff rate incorporate existing most-favored nation duties. Akazawa, who met with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, said U.S. officials expressed regret that the stacking rule had been applied to Japan despite a verbal agreement, and said Washington would refund any overpaid levies, he said. "We've strongly urged our counterparts to promptly implement these measures,' Akazawa told reporters on Saturday, shortly after returning to Tokyo. He declined to comment on when a decision will be made, but made mention of the U.S.-U.K. trade pact and how it took 54 days to take effect. "Keeping such things in mind when it comes to timing, we believe every day matters,' Akazawa said. Japan was hit with higher-than-expected universal tariffs as part of the wave of new levies introduced by the Trump administration Thursday. While the scale of the discrepancy was likely minor, the confusion sparked renewed criticism of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who already faces calls to step down over a poor election showing. "We have confirmed that when the U.S. side takes measures to revise the executive order on universal tariffs, they will issue another order to reduce tariffs on cars and auto parts,' Akazawa said. "We will continue to urge the U.S. side, through all available means and channels' to make those things happen, he said. He added that he wasn't sure when the orders would be issued, but he didn't expect it to take as long as six months or a year. Under the stacking system, the 15% tariff applied to Japan is being added to existing levies on its products. When Japan receives an exemption, Akazawa said that the 15% rate would apply to items that previously had levies of less than 15%, while items that in the past had tariffs of more than 15% will no longer face additional levies. More importantly for the Japanese economy, carmakers are still struggling with tariffs at 27.5% — a combination of a previous 2.5% rate and a new 25% levy applied by Trump. "With each day that passes, the losses incurred by Japanese companies are mounting,' Akazawa said, adding that some companies are seeing an hourly loss of ¥100 million ($679,000), without citing which companies they are. "In this respect, there is no change to what we have been saying previously. We are seeking the issuance of the executive order as quickly as possible — whether by a day or even by a moment,' he said. The lack of clarity on the timing of a promised cut to 15% is making it hard for the car companies, mainstays of the economy, to plan ahead. The auto sector employs roughly 8% of the nation's workforce and is a trend setter for wage growth, which has supported the central bank's gradual interest rate hikes. Japan's benchmark Topix index climbed as much as 1.7% after Akazawa spoke, with a measure of automakers among sectors providing the biggest boost. Toyota and Honda each rose more than 3%. Akazawa chalked up the discrepancies over the stacked tariffs as a misstep introduced during the administrative processing of the agreement, insisting that Japan and the U.S. were aligned on the trade deal agreed in late July. He also defended his call not to draw up the agreement in writing — a decision that has been questioned by opposition lawmakers as confusion mounted over the finer details of the deal. Still, he did not give an indication of when the lower across-the-board and reduced auto tariffs may come into effect, instead saying it will happen "in a timely manner.' He hinted that he may continue to travel to Washington, and said he'd invited his U.S. counterparts to Japan. "As I understand it, the U.S. side will handle the matter in a reasonable manner. That is why we are saying the tariffs will be implemented 'in due course',' he said.
Japan Times
8 hours ago
- Japan Times
In a coffee-mad neighborhood, a gin distillery is a clear alternative
The sliding glass doors of the Fukagawa Distillery open onto a shoebox-size tasting room with immaculate white walls anchored by a curved white counter. Test tubes, beakers and bottles of Fukagawa Distillery's seasonal gins, each bearing a vividly colored label, line the shelves. Through a window behind the eight-seater bar, a gleaming copper-and-glass still takes pride of place in a room of steel tanks. The space feels both futuristic and nostalgic — part steampunk-spaceship, part alchemist's laboratory. Tucked in a residential corner of Koto Ward's Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, a Tokyo neighborhood better known for art galleries and coffee shops than spirits, Fukagawa Distillery represents a creative, entrepreneurial spirit in Tokyo's drink scene. The distillery was established by glassmaker Kouki Sekiya and bartender Kouta Kobayashi in 2023. Sekiya, the third-generation owner of Sekiya Rika, a scientific glassware company established in 1933, grew up surrounded by beakers, burners and borosilicate tubing. Concerned about the dwindling number of skilled glass artisans in Tokyo, he sought new ways to sustain the craft. In 2015, he opened Rikashitsu ('Science Lab' in Japanese), an experimental retail shop where he began producing compact, home-use distillation units. To his surprise, bartenders and spirit makers flocked to his workshops. Kobayashi runs Bar Nico in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, which he opened in 2013 after returning from a sabbatical in Brighton, England. In 2016, he began specializing in gin and expanded his bar to include a gin shop and a restaurant serving curry with the spirit. In 2018, Sekiya discovered craft gin at the annual Gin Festival Tokyo — an event that showcased more than 100 brands of gin — and was instantly hooked. Later, the momentum of the global gin boom sparked a larger idea. 'We always made equipment for research,' he says, 'but I started to wonder: What if we used glass to create something for people to enjoy, not just study?' The distillery's glass and copper still was custom-designed by co-founders Kouki Sekiya and Kouta Kobayashi. | FUKAGAWA DISTILLERY His vision took shape after meeting Kobayashi at an event intended to connect like-minded entrepreneurs in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa. With Sekiya developing the equipment and Kobayashi overseeing product and flavor development, the pair decided to try making hyper-local gin — starting with a custom still made of glass and copper that allows distillation to be viewed in real time. The signature model is based on a historical design once used in southwestern Japan's Satsuma domain, reengineered with modern materials. Sekiya brings an engineer's precision to the project, while Kobayashi offers a bartender's palate. Their collaboration centers on locality and seasonality. The distillery's flagship gin, Fueki, features Aomori hiba (a kind of cypress) — a nod to the fragrant wood historically associated with bygone lumberyards in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa. Seasonal releases incorporate botanicals like strawberries and roses. Each batch is made by hand, yielding just 200 bottles at a time. Although local bars are key channels, the team is pushing to position gin as a mealtime tipple. That approach is reflected in a food and drink pairing event held in June, a collaboration with Tokyo's Sushi M that showcased how botanicals can harmonize with Japanese cuisine. Known for his counterintuitive pairings, Sushi M's owner-sommelier Yoshinobu Kimura created cocktails using Fukagawa's gins as the base, blending them with sake and other spirits, as well as homemade syrups and infusions. The signature Fueki, mixed with gooseberry juice and Awaibuki sparkling sake, accompanied an amuse-bouche of seared horse mackerel, eggplant and caviar sandwiched between crisp monaka rice wafers. At a recent food and gin pairing event organized by Fukagawa Distillery and Sushi M, the distillery's Fueki gin was turned into a cocktail by mixing it with sparkling sake. | SUSHI M Some cocktails tread into strange territory, such as a charcoal-grilled mudskipper fish steeped in a blend of the distillery's seasonal magnolia leaf gin and Flor de Cana rum. The blackened fish lent a subtle smokiness and earthy undertone to the concoction, which complemented the umami richness in two kinds of raw tuna. Gin also found its way into the dishes themselves: A drop of lemon-scented gin provided the finishing touch to a puree of rice with clam broth, topped with clams, vegetables and clam-stock foam — a contemporary riff on the local specialty, Fukagawa-meshi (clam soup poured over cooked rice). A subtle cocktail of oolong tea, elderflower liqueur and the distillery's osmanthus gin complemented the creation. The distillery hopes to collaborate with more restaurants while maintaining its hyper-local focus. For now, Sekiya and Kobayashi are only selling their gin at their distillery and restaurants and bars in the neighborhood, viewing their spirit not just as a product but as a draw that brings visitors to explore the area's unique character. Kobayashi says, "We want neighborhood folks to think of it as their local drink."
