TOKYO, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Honda Motor raised its full-year forecasts on Wednesday and posted its first quarterly profit rise in six quarters as a weaker yen helped it offset lower vehicle sales and higher material costs linked to the Iran war.
Japan's second-biggest automaker lifted its full-year operating profit forecast by 30% to 650 billion yen ($4.1 billion) from 500 billion yen, citing a revised exchange-rate assumption. It also raised its net profit and revenue outlooks.
Operating profit more than doubled to 530.8 billion yen in the April to June quarter from 244.2 billion yen a year earlier, well above the 302.1 billion yen median estimate in an LSEG poll of nine analysts.
Honda assumed the yen will trade at an average rate of 155 per dollar this fiscal year, compared to 145 expected previously.
HONDA COMING OFF THE BACK OF FIRST YEARLY LOSS IN DECADES
The results come after the struggling automaker posted its first annual loss in nearly 70 years in May, hit by more than $9 billion in costs to restructure its electric-vehicle business.
CEO Toshihiro Mibe apologised for Honda's performance at the company's annual shareholder meeting in June, but won backing for his reappointment to the board.
The company had already reported that global automotive sales fell 4% to 838,000 cars in the first quarter.
Worldwide sales were dragged down by a nearly 50% slump in China and declines elsewhere in Asia, which offset gains in the U.S. and Japan. The U.S. made up about half of Honda's vehicle sales during the quarter.
($1 = 157.7100 yen)
(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Jan Harvey)
