Toyota Motor Corp. said Nov. 6 that its group operating profit for the full year to March will probably plunge nearly 74 percent from the previous year as the global financial crisis slows the world economy and curbs car sales in the United States and Europe.

Toyota now expects a ¥600 billion operating profit for fiscal 2008, down 73.6 percent from ¥2.27 trillion logged the year before. That's way below its previous forecast of ¥1.6 trillion and the lowest since Toyota adopted U.S. accounting standards 10 years ago. The firm also expects a 68 percent fall in group net profit to ¥550 billion.

The revision was blamed mostly on the rise in the yen's strength against other major currencies, which will erode profits earned overseas when repatriated into yen.