Tokyo – Bridgestone Corp. reported an 11.9 percent increase in operating profit to 280.4 billion yen for the first half of the year compared to the same period last year. Sales rose 3.6 percent to 2,176.8 billion yen in the six months to June.

However, the Japanese group has revised its forecasts for the full year downwards by 7.5% to 490 billion yen and for sales by 0.5% to 4,410 billion yen – compared to the forecasts published in February.

Bridgestone justified the adjustment by saying that “business conditions in Latin America have deteriorated more than expected,” but added that conditions should improve in the second half of the fiscal year.

“While the Group is stepping up damage control efforts to move beyond the worst of the first half of the fiscal year, a significant negative impact is expected for the full year,” Bridgestone added.

Bridgestone said elsewhere that growth in North America was “lower than expected … although the group plans a recovery in the second half of the fiscal year.”

Other problems included an increase in imports of cheap tires on the market and “a greater than expected deterioration in the business environment in the diversified products business.”