Tokyo - Toyota Motor Corp on Thursday reported a surprise profit in the July-to-September quarter while more than halving its expected loss for the entire fiscal year as government stimulus packages revived car sales and the world's largest carmaker instituted cost cutting.

The Japanese company said it now expected a net loss of 200 billion yen (2.2 billion dollars) for the year ending March 31 instead of the previously forecast 450 billion yen.

It also drastically reduced its operating loss forecast to 350 billion yen from 750 billion yen.

It raised its revenue forecast to 18 trillion yen from 16.8 trillion yen as it also increased its expected car sales in Asia and North America.

After three quarters of losses, Toyota returned to the black in its second quarter with a net profit of 21.8 billion yen. In the same quarter a year earlier, it had posted a net profit of 139.8 billion yen.

Its operating profit for the three months was 58 billion yen, better than analysts had expected, but down from last year's 169.5 billion yen.

Toyota joined its competitors Honda Motor Co, Nissan Motor Co and Mazda Motor Corp in raising its annual earnings projections.

For the first half of the fiscal year, Toyota said it had a net loss of 56 billion yen, compared with a net profit of 493.4 billion yen a year ago.

Sales were down 31.3 per cent from the first half of last year to 8.4 trillion yen, mainly due to falling demand for cars in all regions and a strong yen, the company said. (dpa)