Yamaha Motor Co. said Wednesday that it posted a record consolidated net profit of 40.1 billion yen for fiscal 2003, which ended in March, up 57 percent from the previous year.

The motorcycle maker attributed the performance to brisk overseas sales, especially in other parts of Asia.

While admitting that one-time pension-related gains helped inflate the profit, Yamaha President Toru Hasegawa stressed that the firm achieved a record net profit even if the extraordinary gains are excluded.

The firm posted a 6.6 billion yen extraordinary profit generated from returning part of Yamaha's employee pension obligations to the government.

Yamaha's group operating profit grew 8.1 percent to a record 73.1 billion yen, while its consolidated pretax profit rose 7.5 percent to a record 72.3 billion yen.

Overall group sales slightly increased to an all-time high of 1.02 trillion yen.

Net profit, operating profit, pretax profit and overall sales marked record highs for two consecutive years, it said.

Its global motorcycle sales amounted to 535.9 billion yen, up 1.1 percent.

Strong demand in other parts of Asia and a favorable exchange rate in Europe offset weak domestic and North American sales, according to the company.

In terms of volume, Yamaha sold 1.73 million motorcycles in other parts of Asia, including Thailand, Indonesia and India, up 30.2 percent from a year earlier.

Sales in the United States fell 7.5 percent to 184,000 units.

Domestic sales declined 12.3 percent to 178,000 units.