Honda Motor Co. reported Wednesday a net profit of 222.51 billion yen ($2.0 billion) for the April-June quarter, swinging into the black from a loss of 80.87 billion yen a year earlier when the automotive industry was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japan's second-largest automaker by volume said it hopes a gradual economic recovery will continue to raise global auto and motorcycle sales for the business year through March.

Honda now forecasts its net profit in the current business year to rise 1.9 percent to 670 billion yen and operating profit to increase 18.1 percent to 780 billion yen, on sales of 15.45 trillion yen, up 17.3 percent.

The net profit outlook was revised upward from a previously projected 590 billion yen.

"High vaccination rates and economic stimulus packages globally led to a rise in sales in the April-June quarter despite an ongoing shortage in semiconductors," said Honda Executive Vice President Seiji Kuraishi in an online press conference.

The automaker will be unable to avoid the impact of lockdowns in some Asian countries due to recent spikes in coronavirus cases, though the firm plans to minimize it by optimizing global operations, he added.

In the year to March, Honda downgraded its vehicle sales estimate to 4.85 million units from the previous outlook of 5 million, while those of motorcycles are also cut to 17.4 million units from 18 million units due to the recent COVID-19 resurgence.

In the April-June period, the automaker posted an operating profit of 243.21 billion yen compared to a year-earlier loss of 113.69 billion yen, while sales jumped 68.7 percent to 3.58 trillion yen.

Honda's global auto sales in the three months to June rose 26.0 percent to 998,000 units, while those of motorcycles soared 109.1 percent to 3.88 million units.

==Kyodo

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