$HMC Profits Jump 63%

“TOKYO (AP) — Honda’s quarterly profit surged nearly 63 percent as production recovered after disruptions from natural disasters, but the Japanese automaker slightly lowered its full-year profit forecast because of sales losses in China.

Tokyo-based Honda Motor Co. reported a 77.4 billion yen ($850 million) profit for the October-December period Thursday. Quarterly sales jumped nearly 25 percent to 2.4 trillion yen ($26 billion).

All the Japanese automakers are seeing a dramatic recovery from the quake and tsunami in northeastern Japan in 2011, which destroyed key suppliers.

Honda was also hurt by flooding in Thailand in late 2011. On top of the sales recovery, they are getting a perk from a weakening yen, which helps lift the value of overseas earnings.

Japanese automakers are reporting solid sales increases in the key U.S. market and in Asian countries such as India and Indonesia. The exception is China where anti-Japanese sentiment flared up last year over a territorial dispute, and Honda expects to lose sales of 20,000 vehicles compared with its earlier plan….”