HONDA

Company sales, profit drop amid rising costs, chip shortages

Honda's profit dropped 32% in the last quarter as rising material costs and a shortage of computer chips hurt the Japanese automaker.

Honda Motor Co.'s profit for the three months through December totaled 192.9 billion yen ($1.7 billion), down from 284 billion yen the year before, the Tokyo-based company said Wednesday.

Quarterly sales slipped 2% to 3.7 trillion yen ($32 billion).

Like the rest of the world's automakers, Honda's manufacturing also has been affected by delays due to measures to curb coronavirus outbreaks. Japan's top automaker Toyota reported a similar drop in profit.

Honda, which makes the Accord sedan, Gold Wing motorcycles and Asimo robot, said it expects the challenges to persist.

Rising material costs are also a problem, but the company said cost-cutting efforts allowed it to raise its profit projection.

It raised its full fiscal year profit forecast to 670 billion yen ($5.8 billion) from an earlier projection of 555 billion yen ($4.8 billion), an improvement from the 657 billion profit earned in the previous fiscal year.

by Yuri Kageyama