Toyota reports worst-ever fiscal loss

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Toyota reports worst-ever fiscal loss; $7b bled in calendar year 2009 exceeds GM loss
05/08/2009, 8:55 AM
By Andrew Ganz

Toyota says that it lost about $8.6 billion during the fiscal year that ended March 31, the biggest loss ever in the automaker’s 72-year history, but perhaps more alarming is that it bled about $7 billion alone during the first quarter of calendar year 2009. That loss, which was reflected in the fiscal year reporting, exceeds the $6 billion General Motors lost during the same period.

If not for its flush cash situation, built up over years of profitability, Toyota’s woes would be comparable to GM’s. The loss in the first quarter of the calendar year, 765.8 billion yen, was down substantially from the 316.8 billion yen profit the Japanese automaker made during the same period last year. Last fiscal year’s overall profits were an impressive 1.72 trillion yen.

Toyota, heavily dependent on the North American market, has seen its sales suffer heavily - most notably in April, when both Ford division and Chevrolet outsold Toyota division in the United States.

Standard and Poor’s lowered Toyota’s long-term credit rating to AA, the third-highest rating and gave a “negative” outlook on account of the automaker’s “strong capital structure with massive liquidity”

Toyota’s fiscal year global sales fell to 7.57 million cars, down from 8.91 million in the previous year. The automaker says it expects to sell around 1 million fewer cars next year, or about 6.5 million overall.