August 4, 2006
Japan - Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp. said net profit for its first quarter ended June 30 was 20.26 billion yen ($177.19 million), up 20.4% from the 16.83 billion yen net profit recorded in the same fiscal period a year earlier. Benefiting from increased motorcycle sales in the United States and Europe as well as an exploding minivehicle market in Japan and India, the company's first quarter sales were 763.84 billion yen, a 19.8% increase from the same period last year.
The automobile, powersports and marine manufacturer's sold a total of 533,000 vehicles during the three-month period, up 8.4 pct from a year earlier.
For the fiscal year ending in March 2007, Suzuki expects net profit of 66 billion yen on sales of 2.8 trillion yen. The company plans a 7 percent increase in global sales to 2.21 million units.
