TOKYO (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co posted a 90 percent fall in quarterly operating profit as a severe parts shortage stemming from the March 11 earthquake slashed output, but avoided an expected loss and raised its annual profit guidance by more than a third.
Japan's No.3 automaker said on Monday it made an operating profit of 22.58 billion yen ($292.5 million) in the April-June quarter, compared to a 234.4 billion yen profit a year earlier. The result was much better than the average estimate of a 67 billion yen loss in a survey of seven analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
It posted a net profit of 31.8 billion yen, down 88 percent from the previous year, while revenue fell 27 percent to 1.715 trillion yen.
For the full year to March 2012, the maker of Civic and Accord cars now expects operating profit, which excludes earnings from China, of 270 billion yen, or 35 percent more than the previous forecast of 200 billion yen. A poll of 21 analysts put the forecast at 407.7 billion yen.
Honda suffered the biggest drop in production from the March disasters due mainly to bad timing for the scheduled delivery of parts. The supply shortage coincided with the full remodeling this spring of its Civic model in the key U.S. market where sales of the popular car fell by a third in June.
Shares in Honda are down 4 percent in the year to date, underperforming a 1 percent drop in Tokyo's transport sector subindex . ($1 = 77.190 Japanese Yen)
(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Matt Driskill)
