Tokyo - Honda Motor Co saw record earnings results for the fiscal year 2007 that ended in March, the company announced Friday.

Honda's net profit rose 1.3 per cent to 600.04 billion yen (5.78 billion dollars) in the year through March 31, and operating profit jumped 11.9 per cent to 953.11 billion yen. Both resulted were record highs.

Sales grew 8.3 per cent to 12 trillion yen from a year before as the company set a record high for the eight years in a row.

While domestic sales in fiscal 2007 fell 8.5 per cent to 615,000 units, overseas sales expanded by 11.1 per cent to 3.31 million units.

For the current fiscal year through March 2009, Japan's second largest automaker expects a 1.1-per-cent sales increase to 12,140 billion yen, net profit to decline 18.3 per cent to 490 billion yen, and operating profit to plunge 31.8 per cent to 650 billion yen.

The downward forecast was attributed to a stronger yen and fallout from the US subprime mortgage crisis. (dpa)