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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Toyota profits up 34 percent in fourth quarter


Takeshi Suzuki, senior managing director of Toyota Motor Corp., speaks to reporters following a news conference in Tokyo Tuesday. 
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
From wire reports The Spokesman-Review

Toyota, whose solid growth could put it ahead of General Motors as the world’s No. 1 automaker, reported a 34 percent rise in profit Tuesday for the quarter ended Dec. 31 as sales jumped in North America and Asia.

Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s second-biggest automaker, marked a record group net profit of 397.6 billion yen ($3.3 billion) during the three months, up from 296.5 billion yen the same period a year earlier.

Sales for the quarter were also a record for the company at 5.33 trillion yen ($45 billion), up 15 percent from 4.64 trillion yen the previous year.

Koichi Sugimoto, auto analyst at Nomura Securities Co., said Toyota is finally raking in the benefits from the investments in plants and car development the automaker made in the past to keep up with growing global demand.

“The October-December quarter is when Toyota will start doing fantastic business in a real way,” he said.

The Coca-Cola Co. benefited from strong sales and growth in noncarbonated offerings, but its profit fell 28 percent in the fourth-quarter due in part to certain one-time tax issues. Its shares rose Tuesday as the world’s largest beverage maker beat expectations.

The Atlanta-based company said it earned $864 million, or 36 cents a share, for the three months ending Dec. 31, compared to a profit of $1.20 billion, or 50 cents a share, in the same period a year ago when Coke benefited from an insurance settlement and other matters.

Excluding one-time items — an accrual for taxes related to the repatriation of foreign earnings and charges incurred by an equity investee — Coca-Cola said it earned $1.08 billion, or 46 cents a share, in the quarter.

Revenue in the three-month period rose 7 percent to $5.55 billion, compared to $5.20 billion in the same period a year ago.

Regal Entertainment Group, the nation’s biggest movie theater operator, said Tuesday that fourth-quarter profit surged 43 percent, as acquisitions made last year bolstered revenue and helped the company overcame an industrywide slump in attendance.

“We continue to believe the attendance decline is primarily due to the cyclical nature of our business,” Regal Chief Executive Mike Campbell told analysts, pointing to similar drop-offs in the 1980s.

For the quarter ended Dec. 29, the Knoxville-based operator of Regal Cinemas, United Artists Theatres and Edwards Theatres reported a profit of $35.1 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with $24.5 million, or 16 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding restructuring expenses, Regal would have reported adjusted earnings of 24 cents per share.

Cisco Systems Inc., the world’s largest network equipment maker, posted lower net profits but higher sales for its fiscal second-quarter.

For the three months ended Jan. 28, Cisco earned $1.38 billion, or 22 cents per share, compared with $1.4 billion, or 21 cents per share in the second quarter of 2005. Sales rose 9 percent to $6.6 billion from $6.1 billion.

The latest results included a $188 million, or 3 cents-per-share charge from the expense of employee stock options, a recently adopted rule by the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

Excluding one-time items, Cisco said it earned $1.6 billion, or 26 cents per share, compared with $1.5 billion, or 22 cents per share for the second quarter of fiscal 2005.

Boston Scientific Corp. said Tuesday it’s increasingly optimistic that it can quickly complete a $27 billion acquisition of troubled medical device maker Guidant Corp. while also fixing its own quality-control problems.

After reporting a higher fourth-quarter profit despite declining sales, Boston Scientific executives told analysts that the Guidant deal looks more appealing that it first did — in part because of a tax-law change Boston Scientific said Tuesday will cut its debt from the Guidant purchase by $900 million.

Energy group BP PLC described the global outlook as “solid” Tuesday after high oil prices underpinned strong rises in quarterly and full-year net profit that nevertheless disappointed the market by missing forecasts.

Shares in BP, the world’s second-biggest oil company by market capitalization, fell 2.7 percent after it revealed that accounting and hurricane-related charges ate into earnings.