Toyota tries to put brave face on crisis

Firm forecasts return to profit, sales surge despite recall woes

TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp, the world's largest carmaker, forecast a return to annual profit and a 51 percent surge in North American sales this quarter even as the company faces its worst recall crisis.

The company expects net income of 80 billion yen ($880 million) in the year ending March 31, compared with an earlier forecast for a 200 billion yen loss, it said in a statement in Tokyo yesterday.