Toyota reports record loss and predicts worse to come

Toyota reports record loss and predicts worse to comealmost ¥500bn in the coming year by cutting production and laying off thousands of temporary workers Justin McCurry Toyota today reported net losses of ¥436.9bn (£2.9bn) for last year, the worst results in its history, and predicted it would lose ¥550bn this financial year as it struggles to limit the fallout from the global economic crisis. The loss, the first in almost six decades, was far worse than predicted and underlined the size of the task facing the worlds biggest carmaker, which was forced to slash production and jobs amid plummeting demand in the US and other vital export markets. Toyota also said it would cut its annual dividend forecast for the first time in 14 years to ¥100 a share from ¥140 last year. The proposed cut will be put to shareholders at their annual meeting in June and comes after Toyotas annual dividend leaped six-fold in the space of a decade. Both revenues and profits declined severely during this period, Toyotas president, Katsuaki Watanabe, said in a statement. The negative impact was a consequence of the significant deterioration in vehicle sales particularly in the US and Europe, the rapid appreciation of the yen against the US dollar and the euro and the sharp rise in raw materials. Toyota hopes to reduce fixed costs by almost ¥500bn in the coming year by cutting production and laying off thousands of temporary workers around the world. It will also eliminate bonuses for senior executives and reduce those for managers by 60%. The rest&GuardianUK