Toyota raises annual profit forecast after quarterly income jump on weak yen, sales growth

TOKYO – Toyota raised its annual earnings forecast after posting a 23 percent jump in July-September profit as a favorable exchange rate added to the momentum of the Japanese automaker's sales growth.

Toyota Motor Corp. reported Wednesday a better-than-expected fiscal second quarter profit of 539 billion yen ($4.7 billion), up from 438 billion yen the same period the previous year. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected about 500 billion yen ($4.4) in quarterly profit

Quarterly sales grew 4 percent to 6.55 trillion yen ($58 billion) as a weak yen boosted the value of overseas revenue.

Toyota, the world's top-selling automaker, raised its profit projection for the year through March 2015, to 2 trillion yen ($17.5 billion). That would be an increase of 10 percent from the previous year.