Toyota to announce earnings forecast on Friday

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> said it will announce a revised earnings forecast on Friday for the financial year to March 2012, as it steadily restores production disrupted by Thai flooding that forced it to withdraw its outlook a month earlier.

Toyota's output has returned to normal levels at most of its production sites worldwide, although plants in Thailand and South Africa continue operating at reduced rates after flooding hit suppliers, cutting global output by 215,000 vehicles from October 10 to November 25.

The Thai flooding hit just as Toyota's supply chains had recovered from the devastating March 11 earthquake in northeast Japan.

Honda Motor Co <7267.T>, hit particularly hard as facilities were inundated by floods in central Thailand, also withdrew its annual earnings guidance when it announced half-year results, although Nissan Motor Co <7201.T> raised its outlook as it adapted more quickly.

Before withdrawing its forecast, Toyota had been projecting an operating profit of 450 billion yen ($5.77 billion) for the year to March 2012. The consensus forecast of 23 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S is for an operating profit of 422 billion yen.

(Reporting by Kentaro Sugiyama, Mayumi Negishi and Edmund Klamann; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)