Suzuki Sees India, Japan Impacting Profit Growth In FY20
Suzuki has forecast profit growth for FY20 at 1.7 percent, expecting slow growth at Maruti Suzuki and sales tax hike in Japan.
Suzuki Motor Corp. on Friday pegged profit growth for the current fiscal at 1.7 percent, expecting slow growth at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. due to uncertain economic outlook in India and impact of hike in sales tax in Japan. The company forecast its profit for FY20 to be at 330 billion yen, while pegging net sales at 3,900 billion yen.
Suzuki forecast its profit for FY20 to be at 330 billion yen, while pegging net sales at 3,900 billion yen. The Japanese carmaker reported 13.3 percent decline in profit at 324.4 billion yen for the year ended March 31, 2019. Its net sales, however, grew by 3 percent to 3,871.5 billion yen.
On the outlook for 2019-20, Suzuki said: "With respect to the consolidated business forecasts for the next fiscal year, there is a situation where the outlook is unclear, including the impact of the hike in the rate of consumption tax in Japan, as well as the economic outlook of India."
The company continuously prospects increase in automobile sales centered in India, but on the other hand, there are concerns, including the appreciation of the yen and the increase in research and development expenses, it added. Consequently, the company expects net sales and operating income to be flat on the year.
Suzuki said its global production was at 33,94,000 units in FY19, a growth of 1.7 percent. However, production stood at 8,55,000 units in the January-March quarter, down 4.7 percent, mainly due to production cuts at Maruti Suzuki. The carmaker said in 2018-19 it posted record sales of 33,27,000 units, a growth of 3.2 percent year-on-year.