Honda Motor Co. said Friday that its net profit rose 31 percent to a record 151.05 billion yen in the October-December period.

It attributed the increase primarily to valuation gains from financial assets and increased profits generated by its Asian joint ventures.

Growth in its core automotive business, however, was not so impressive, due to weak domestic sales and the yen's rise against the dollar.

The company's operating profit for the quarter rose 1.4 percent to 161.13 billion yen, while revenue was virtually flat at 1.99 trillion yen.

In terms of volume, the automaker's sales stood at a record 747,000 units, up 6.4 percent from a year ago, led by strong overseas demand.

The firm sold 407,000 units, up 4.9 percent from a year earlier, in the mainstay North American market, where the Element sport utility vehicle and the Acura TL enjoyed brisk sales.

But in Japan, unit sales fell 12.4 percent to 177,000 after the popularity of the remodeled Life minicar and the Odyssey minivan failed to make up for slowing sales of the Fit and other models.

Despite the unit sales increase, revenue from the auto business slid 0.4 percent to 1.63 trillion yen.

Officials blamed this on the yen's appreciation against the dollar, which reduces the value of money earned overseas when the company repatriates it.

But Honda's net profit logged a quarterly record, thanks to valuation gains from stockholdings and interest swaps, as well as from its Asian joint ventures, including those in China.

Honda's group net profit for the April-December period surged 25.9 percent from a year earlier to 390.23 billion yen, the company said.

For the full-year to March, the company expects to generate a record 473 billion yen in net profit on revenue of 8.1 trillion yen.