Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd, the maker of Subaru vehicles, on Wednesday cut its forecast for full-year operating profit as it expects a stronger domestic currency to outweigh a further rise in vehicle sales.
The Japanese automaker sees operating profit easing to 373.0 billion yen ($3.59 billion) in the year ending March, down 34.1 percent from a year earlier and lower than a previous forecast of 400.0 billion yen. It sees net profit falling 36.3 percent to 278.0 billion yen.
It now expects the yen to trade at an average of 104 yen to the US dollar and 115 yen to the euro, compared with its previous forecast for 106 yen and 121 yen respectively.
The maker of the Outback, Forester and Legacy models posted operating profit of 208.5 billion yen for the April-September period, 26.9 percent lower than a year prior, as yen gains offset an increase in sales at home and abroad.
Operating profit for the second quarter came in at 106.9 billion yen, in line with the average of 10 analyst estimates surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S/.