Tokyo  - Honda Motor Co lowered its net profit projection for the full year through March 31 due to a stronger yen and decline in sales, the company said Tuesday.

Japan's second-largest car maker by sales revised downward its net profit projection to 485 billion yen (5.1 billion dollars) from an initial figure of 490 billion yen because of the rising yen value and slow sales in North America.

Honda reduced its forecast for operating profit to 550 billion yen from an earlier projection of 630 billion yen.

The company expected sales to drop to 11.6 trillion yen from 12.13 trillion yen it estimated in July, it said.

For the first six months through September, Honda reported a net profit of 302.93 billion yen, a decrease of 19.1 per cent from a year earlier.

Its operating profit fell to 370.20 billion yen, down 27.1 per cent, and sales declined 3.5 per cent to 5.69 trillion yen, Honda said. dpa cm tl