Honda 2Q net profit up 39 percent, raises full-year forecast

TOKYO – Honda Motor Co. says its net profit in the last quarter was 188 billion yen ($1.7 billion), up 39 percent from a year earlier.

The company on Monday upgraded its forecast for its fiscal full-year net profit to 415 billion yen ($3.96 billion), from an earlier estimate of 390 billion yen.

The company said strong sales of sport utility vehicles in China helped to support its strong performance, despite unfavorable currency trends that pulled its sales down nearly 10 percent from a year earlier in the July-September quarter, to 3.26 trillion yen ($31.1 billion).

Honda's profit fell 6 percent in the April-June quarter from a year earlier, as the automaker took a hit from massive air-bag recalls at its supplier Takata. Honda is one of Takata's biggest customers.