Mazda Motor Corp. said Wednesday its group net profit for the business year ended March 31 fell 15.4 percent from the previous year to ¥134.42 billion ($1.2 billion), with costs of a global recall linked to air bags made by Takata Corp. weighing on the firm.
Its group operating profit grew 11.8 percent to ¥226.78 billion on sales of ¥3.41 trillion, up 12.3 percent, helped by continuing cost-cutting efforts and expanded sales of vehicles equipped with its Skyactiv fuel-efficient technology.
But the automaker set aside ¥40.7 billion to replace Takata-made faulty air bag inflators, squeezing its net profit. An official said Mazda will pay for the recall costs at first but will hold talks with Takata to have the burden shared.
Mazda said its global sales were up 9.8 percent from the previous year to 1,534,000 vehicles.
A total of 232,000 vehicles were sold in Japan, up 3.5 percent from the previous year, due to solid sales of its Mazda2 compact, known as the Demio in Japan.
The number of vehicles sold in the United States and Europe also increased to 438,000 and 257,000, respectively, with the CX-3 and Mazda2 among products that attracted customers.
For the current business year, the automaker said it expects the group net profit to drop 14.4 percent to ¥115.0 billion and operating profit to decline 25.0 percent to ¥170 billion on sales of ¥3.3 trillion, down 3.7 percent.
"The outlook is uncertain, given the deceleration in emerging economies and the yen's appreciation seen from the beginning of this year," Mazda said in its financial statement.