Earnings: Honda profit rises on fuel-saving cars

Honda Motor said Wednesday that its first-quarter profit rose 16 percent, buoyed by demand for fuel-efficient models in the United States and a weaker yen.
Net income rose to ¥166.1 billion, or $1.4 billion, in the three months ended June 30, compared with ¥143.4 billion a year earlier.
The company won customers in the United States, Honda's biggest market, from General Motors and Ford Motor with Civic compact cars and CR-V sport-utility vehicles. The Tokyo-based automaker earns as much as 70 percent of its operating profit in the United States and benefited from a 5.3 percent drop in the value of the yen against the dollar in the quarter.
Nintendo, the world's biggest maker of handheld game players, said first-quarter profit rose fivefold to a record and raised its earnings forecasts as the Wii console widened its sales lead over Sony PlayStation 3.
Net income climbed to ¥80.3 billion, or $668 million, in the three months ended June 30, from ¥15.6 billion a year earlier. Sales, driven by the DS portable and the "Mario" games series, more than doubled to a record ¥340.4 billion. The company raised its full-year net income forecast to a record ¥245 billion.
Advantest, the world's biggest maker of memory-chip testers, said first-quarter profit fell 13 percent to ¥9.95 billion, or $83 million, in the three months to June 30, from ¥11.5 billion. Sales fell 4.7 percent to ¥57.1 billion from ¥59.9 billion.
Bank of India, the nation's seventh biggest by assets, said fiscal first-quarter profit rose 51 percent to 3.15 billion rupees, or $78.2 million, in the three months ended June 30, compared with 2.09 billion rupees in the same period a year earlier.
Elpida Memory, Japan's biggest maker of memory chips for personal computers, said first-quarter profit more than doubled because of a one-time gain. Net income climbed to ¥14.6 billion, or $121 million, in the three months ended June 30, from ¥6.61 billion a year earlier. Sales climbed 19 percent to ¥109.5 billion.
KT Freetel, on of the largest South Korean cellphone operators, reported a sixth-consecutive decline in quarterly profit after the company increased spending on handset subsidies and marketing to win customers from rivals.
Second-quarter net income fell 37 percent to 51.1 billion won, or $56 million. Sales rose 10 percent to 1.8 trillion won.
KT&G, the biggest South Korean tobacco company, reported second-quarter profit rose 27 percent to 197.5 billion won, or $216 million, in the three months ended June 30, from 156.1 billion won a year earlier, the company said.
Lotte Shopping, the largest South Korean department-store operator, said second-quarter profit had risen 21 percent in the three months ended June 30 rose to 178.7 billion won, or $196 million, from 148.1 billion won a year earlier.
Nomura Holdings, Japan's largest securities firm, bolstered first-quarter profit almost fourfold as it earned more from trading stocks and managing assets. Net income rose to ¥76.7 billion, or $638 million, for the three months ended June 30 from ¥20.1 billion a year earlier.
United Bank, one of the largest Pakistani lenders, posted a 5 percent increase in second-quarter profit because it gave out more loans. Net income in the three months ended June 30, rose to 2.55 billion rupees, or $42 million, from 2.43 billion rupees a year earlier.
Bank Internasional Indonesia, partly owned by the largest South Korean lender, Kookmin Bank, said that first-half profit fell 18 percent to 289.7 billion rupiah, or $32 million, from 352.3 billion rupiah in the period a year earlier. Interest income declined to 2.79 trillion rupiah from 3.11 trillion rupiah, while net interest income fell to 1.21 trillion rupiah from 1.40 trillion rupiah.