Honda profit off; plunge for year projected

TOKYO -- Battered by the strong yen and supply disruptions from Thailand’s floods, Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday its net earnings in the October-December quarter, its third fiscal quarter, tumbled 41 percent to $625 million, and it projected that full-year profit would drop nearly 60 percent to $2.7 billion.

The Japanese automobile and motorcycle maker had just begun to recover from the March earthquake and tsunami, which damaged some of its suppliers, when Thailand’s worst floods in 50 years swamped its vehicle assembly plant north of Bangkok.

The company said global vehicle sales in the quarter declined 2.9 percent from a year ago to 830,000 units. Sales in Japan rose 16 percent and those in North America increased 2 percent from the same quarter a year ago, but sales in Europe, Asia, and other regions fell.