OREANDA-NEWS. Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TSE: 8015) reported consolidated net sales of 8,663.46 billion yen and net income of 67.571 billion yen, or 192.23 yen per share, for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015.

Consolidated Results of Operations

In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015, the global economy as a whole continued to gradually grow, with developed economies performing solidly amid a slowdown in emerging market economies. The U.S. economy benefited from robust personal consumption fueled by recovery in employment and lower crude oil prices. The European economy showed signs of stabilizing in response to the European Central Bank's quantitative easing program, but Europe's economic outlook remained murky, clouded by economic challenges in Greece and elsewhere. Among emerging market economies, growth picked up in major Asian countries other than China, where growth slowed. Meanwhile, some resource-producing countries saw their economies weaken in the wake of crude oil prices' steep decline.

Against such a backdrop, the Japanese economy slowed in the first half of the fiscal year in the aftermath of last April's consumption tax hike, which was compounded by import cost inflation stemming from yen depreciation. In the fiscal second half, however, the Japanese economy embarked on what appears to be a self-sustaining recovery driven by improvement in capital investment and reduction in imported energy costs.

Amid this environment, the Toyota Tsusho Group’s consolidated net sales in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015, increased 920.2 billion yen (11.9%) year on year to 8,663.4 billion yen, largely by virtue of growth in petroleum product sales coupled with yen depreciation.

Consolidated operating income grew to 169.456 billion yen from 161.321 billion yen in the previous fiscal year, an 8.135 billion yen (5.0%) increase attributable mainly to growth in gross profits. Consolidated ordinary income, however, was down 7.171 billion yen (4.4%) to 156.267 billion yen from the previous fiscal year's 163.438 billion yen due to a decrease in equity in earnings of unconsolidated subsidiaries and affiliates. Consolidated net income after taxes likewise declined, down 5.463 billion yen (7.5%) to 67.571 billion yen from 73.034 billion yen in the previous fiscal year.