Honda's group net profit surges 79 percent in FY 2016

TOKYO, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Honda Motor Co. announced Friday its group net profit in Fiscal Year 2016 surged 79 percent from a year earlier on robust sales.

The Tokyo-based automaker said that its group net profit had jumped 79 percent to 616.57 billion yen (5.54 billion U.S. dollars) in the fiscal year that ended in March.

The No. 3 automaker in Japan said its consolidated operating profit increased 67 percent to 840.71 billion yen while sales dropped 4.1 percent to 14.0 trillion yen.

Honda said that for the current fiscal year through March 2018, it expects a group net profit of 530 billion yen. (1 Japanese yen = 0.009 U.S. dollar)