Honda posts 9% fall in Q1 profit, beats estimate

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Honda Motor Co on Wednesday posted a better-than-expected 9% drop in first-quarter operating profit, squeezed by COVID-19 restrictions in China that curtailed production and higher material costs.

Operating profit for the three months ended June 30 fell to 222.2 billion yen ($1.65 billion), beating an average estimate of 200.2 billion yen in a poll of 10 analysts by Refinitiv.

In the same period a year earlier, Honda reported a 243.2 billion yen profit.

($1 = 134.9800 yen)

(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by David Dolan)