Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday its group net profit for the first half of fiscal 2005 declined 2.3 percent from the previous year to 570.5 billion yen -- the company's first interim profit drop in four years.

Its operating profit for the six months to September also fell 6.6 percent to 809.4 billion, yen the first negative growth in six years.

The world's second-largest automaker attributed the declines to rising material prices and increased capacity-expansion costs tied to rising global demand.