By Daniel Leussink
TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s Denso Corp, a leading supplier to Toyota Motor Corp, reported an 86.3% rise in fourth quarter operating profit on Thursday, benefitting from stronger sales and weaker lockdown-induced headwinds.
The company, a major manufacturer of automotive parts and chips, posted operating profit of 158.1 billion yen ($1.18 billion) for the three months to end-March, versus an average 161.51 billion yen profit estimated by 10 analysts.
A year earlier, the company earned 84.9 billion yen in profit.
Denso gets about half of its revenue from the Toyota group, which also includes Toyota truck unit Hino Motors and small-car maker Daihatsu, and counts Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda as a board member.
The company, which makes systems for running gasoline engines and driving hybrid and battery-powered vehicles, projected operating profit of 510 billion yen for the current business year that started April 1.
Its shares turned red after the release of the results, last trading down 0.4% at 7,495 yen.
($1 = 133.5300 yen)
(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jacqueline Wong)