Toyota reports 8% drop in Oct-Dec profit, keeps forecast

By YURI KAGEYAMA
AP Business Writer

TOKYO (AP) — Toyota has reported an 8.1% drop in its net profit in the last quarter as a global shortage of computer chips and soaring raw material costs battering the auto industry hit Japan’s top automaker. Toyota’s October-December profit totaled 727.9 billion yen, or $5.6 billion, down from 791.7 billion yen the previous year. Toyota said it was doing its best to find other chips suppliers to keep up with demand, while higher material and energy costs slashed profitability. Toyota kept its full year global consolidated vehicles sales forecast unchanged at 10.4 million vehicles. Quarterly sales rose 25%.