(May 11, 2011) Toyota reported today that fourth-quarter profit fell 77 percent to the lowest in six quarters after Japan's record earthquake disrupted production and crimped domestic sales.

Toyota reported net income of 25.4 billion yen ($314 million) for the three months ended March 31.

Sales fell 12 percent to 4.64 trillion yen, the company said. The output disruptions may cause Toyota to fall behind General Motors and Volkswagen in global sales this year.

The natural disaster was another blow to President Akio Toyoda, whose first full year on the job was consumed by recalls of more than 10 million vehicles for problems related to unintended acceleration.

Toyota said today it expects domestic and overseas production to begin recovering in June, compared with an earlier forecast of July to August.

Toyota's June output will be about 70 percent of normal levels, the company said. Toyoda said 30 parts remain in short supply, compared with 150 in April.

Toyota's global vehicle sales dropped 12 percent from a year earlier to 1.79 million in the three months ended March 31. The decline was led by a 37 percent decrease in Japan. Sales in North America fell 12 percent to 551,000 while in Asia, excluding Japan, deliveries rose 23 percent to 345,000.

On a yearly basis, net revenues were up slightly. For the fiscal year ended March 31 revenues totaled 18.993 trillion yen, an increase of 0.2 percent compared to the previous fiscal year. Operating income increased from 147.5 billion yen to 468.2 billion yen, while income before income taxes and equity in earnings of affiliated companies was 563.2 billion yen. Net income increased from 209.4 billion yen to 408.1 billion yen.

Sources: Bllomberg News, Toyota Motor Corp.