Toyota’s U.S. Loan Unit to Restate Results for 3 Years

Toyota Motor Corp.’s U.S. auto loan unit said Monday that it would restate financial results for the last three years, raising profit and revenue because some fees paid to dealers were accounted for incorrectly.

The restatement will affect results for the three fiscal years ended March 31, according to Toyota Motor Credit Corp. The Torrance-based unit said it was still reviewing the results and could not provide figures.

Loan-writing fees to dealers mistakenly were booked when they were paid rather than being spread out over the length of the loans, the unit said.

Victor Vanov, a Toyota spokesman in New York, said the parent company had not determined what the effect would be on its results. The unit accounts for less than 6% of Toyota’s annual net income.

“We basically overstated expenses and understated income,” said Cheryl Burnett, a spokeswoman for the finance unit. She said the Securities and Exchange Commission had not indicated any plans to look into the restatements.

Toyota Motor Credit had net income of $601 million and net financing revenue of $1.63 billion in the year that ended in March, the unit said in a June regulatory filing to the SEC.

In the year ended in March 2003, net income was $110 million and net financing revenue was $1.04 billion. The year before that, net income was $243 million and net financing revenue was $1.01 billion.

The parent company, based in Toyota City, Japan, earned a record $10.9 billion in the year that ended March 31.