Tokyo — Toyota said on Wednesday its annual net profit fell for the first time in five years, with the Japanese car maker unexpectedly warning of more declines as a stronger yen takes a bite out of its bottom line. The Corolla and Prius hybrid maker posted a profit of ¥1.83-trillion ($16bn) on slightly lower revenue of ¥27.6-trillion for the year to end-March — well down from a record ¥2.31-trillion net profit the previous year. Toyota, which in 2016 lost its crown to Volkswagen as the world’s top-selling car maker, expects a net profit of ¥1.5-trillion in the current year to March 2018 — way off market expectations around ¥1.9-trillion. Vehicle sales in the past fiscal year ticked up to 10.25-million units from 10.19-million vehicles a year earlier. Unit sales in the key North American market remained flat, while Toyota registered a pick up in Europe, Japan and the rest of Asia. Demand dropped in Central and South America, Africa and the Middle East, it said. Japanese exporters, in...
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