By Daniel Leussink
TOKYO, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Toyota lifted its annual outlook as robust sales of hybrid vehicles helped it defy an industry downtrend, while also announcing an $89 billion plan to boost shareholder returns that sent its shares soaring.
Shares in the world's largest automaker finished up 17% on the day, their biggest one-day gain in almost 40 years, extending an advance made as investors bought blue chips after selling AI-related shares in the wake of the US midterm elections.
The crisis
now facing traditional automakers is so profound that Toyota's ability to stay the course is regarded as something of a triumph.
"It was a decent quarter. There are some automakers so far that have been reporting that had terrible quarters," said Christopher Richter, autos analyst at CITIC Securities Japan.
"The fact that they guided upwards and then they had all the shareholder payout stuff, it's like, 'wow'."
The plan to return as much as 14 trillion yen ($89 billion) by March 2031 compares with 7 trillion yen in the preceding five years and follows years of corporate governance reforms by Japanese authorities.
Toyota's massive cash pile, which currently sits at around 9.5 trillion yen, has long been a source of frustration for shareholders, Richter said, adding the automaker will need to continue to return more capital to investors to bolster its return on equity.
A HYBRID SALES BOON AS FUEL COSTS SURGE
Also benefiting from a weaker yen and lower US tariffs that helped offset a slide in sales in China, Toyota said it now expects operating profit of 3.9 trillion yen ($24.6 billion) for the year ending March, up 15% from an earlier forecast.
It also posted a forecast-beating 34% climb in operating income for the July-September quarter.
Toyota has benefited from its focus on petrol-electric hybrids as fuel costs have surged in the wake of the Iran war, even as it faces considerable headwinds in the form of competition from Chinese electric vehicle makers.
Unlike other traditional car companies that went all-in on electric vehicles and then had to write down billions of dollars in investment when demand for EVs weakened, Toyota has primarily focused on advancing the hybrid technology it popularised with the Prius decades ago.
The strategy has been key to its ability to defend market share in its main market, the United States, despite the threat from fast-moving Chinese EV makers elsewhere.
While higher fuel prices were hitting consumer sentiment in the highly competitive Chinese market, Toyota was now fighting back, Chief Financial Officer Yoichi Miyazaki told a briefing.
"We've been able to halt the decline in our market share and are now starting to regain some ground," he said.
China, increasingly, is setting the pace for the rest of the auto industry in everything from production and design to software and robotics. Toyota said it would establish a robotics business of its own that would provide robots for manufacturers and other industries, and position the business as a pillar of future growth.
Toyota also said it plans to spend at least 22 trillion yen on R&D and capital investment through fiscal 2030 and more than halve net liquid assets to 7 trillion yen by March 2031 from end-March levels.
Takanori Azuma, Toyota's chief accounting officer, said the company was offsetting the impact of the situation in the Middle East and a surge in material prices through sales efforts and cost reductions.
($1 = 157.8400 yen)
(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
