Toyota Oz in the money

TOYOTA Australia has pledged to increase its profit growth in coming years after last week reporting an after-tax profit of $76.6 million.

The result, for the 12 months ending March 31, compares with a $67.7 million after-tax profit for the same period last year.

Sales revenue for 2004-2005 fell slightly to $7.3 billion, compared with $7.4 million, due to a softening of export volumes and a weaker US dollar.

Capital expenditure increased by $44 million on the previous year to $177 million.

This expenditure included costs associated with improvements to Toyota’s Altona plant, particularly as preparations had begun for the production of the new Camry and Avalon models in 2006.

It also included information technology development and the relocation to its new Australian corporate headquarters at Port Melbourne.

Toyota Australia president Ted Okada (pictured) said that although the result was satisfactory during a year of intense competition, it was his goal to increase the rate of profit growth during the next few years.

"Our overall sales performance was very strong during another year of record market sales and growth," he said.

"Our dealer network achieved the number-one market position during 2004 even though we did not release any new vehicles during that period." Exports for the period reached 64,355 vehicles with a revenue contribution of $1.1 billion.

"The appreciation of the Australian dollar during the period did place additional pressure on us as an exporter, however, as always we continue to seek new export markets for our locally made Camry," Mr Okada said.

During the reporting period, the Altona plant built 105,866 Camry and Avalon vehicles for domestic and export markets, compared to 114,933 the previous year.

During the calendar year 2004, Toyota sales reached 201,737.

This meant Toyota Australia was the third Toyota affiliate after the United States and Thailand to achieve 200,000 sales.

Other milestones for the year included the production of the two millionth locally built Toyota and the one millionth Camry.

Toyota also exceeded the 400,000-export vehicle mark since its export program began in the 1990s.

During the period, Toyota Australia launched its sponsorship of the AFL and the Australian Paralympics team, developed national partnerships through Toyota Community Spirit and received the 2004 Victorian Premier’s Business Sustainability Award.

"This result is a tribute to our people who continue to push hard for improvement in spite of their achievements throughout the year," Mr Okada said.

"All areas of the company have taken on the challenge of continuous improvement while managing limited resources."