Hino Motors Ltd. said Friday it posted a consolidated net profit of 4.96 billion yen for fiscal 2002, down 40.7 percent from a year earlier due to valuation losses on its securities holdings amid the slumping stock market.
The leading truck and bus maker reported a consolidated net profit of 8.37 billion yen in fiscal 2001 and had forecast a 7 billion yen profit in October.
Consolidated pretax profit soared 258.8 percent to 16.58 billion yen thanks to higher truck demand on the domestic market, increased overseas sales of its vehicles and cost-cutting efforts, Hino said.
Operating profit surged 113.4 percent to 19.19 billion yen and overall sales rose 12.1 percent to 850.32 billion yen.
For the current business year, the firm has forecast a net profit of 16 billion yen and a pretax profit of 29 billion yen on sales of 910 billion yen on a consolidated basis.
Hino is 50.1 percent owned by Toyota Motor Corp.