Japanese car giant Toyota has today cut its full-year net profit forecast after saying its nine-month figure had tumbled nearly 30% as it was hit by investment losses.
The firm's senior managing officer Masayoshi Shirayanagi also said there was no way to avoid a negative impact in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
His comments come just days after fellow Japanese car maker Nissan announced a cut in production in Britain.
The maker of the Corolla and Prius hybrid now expects annual net profit of 1.87 trillion yen ($17 billion) instead of the 2.3 trillion yen it projected three months ago.
The new forecast represents a 25% plunge from the previous year.
Toyota said its net profits for the nine months to December came to 1.42 trillion yen, down 29.3% from the same time the previous year.
The car maker's bottom line was hit by losses of more than 350 billion yen on its investment portfolio, as the stock market fell in the final months of last year.
Operating profit rose 9.5% to 1.94 trillion yen on sales of 22.5 trillion yen, an increase of 3.1%.
Toyota left its forecasts of operating profit and sales unchanged for the full year to March 31.
It projected operating profit at 2.4 trillion yen and sales at a record 29.5 billion yen for the current fiscal year.
Regarding Britain's exit from the EU, Shirayanagi said: "We cannot avoid the negative impact no matter how much we prepare beforehand if Britain leaves the EU with no deal."
He said the firm "will monitor the situation, hoping that it will not happen", adding it was not at the moment considering production changes.
Nissan announced on Sunday that it was cancelling plans to build its X-Trail SUV at its plant in northeast England despite Brexit assurances from the government.
Nissan Europe Chairman Gianluca de Ficchy said at the time that while the decision had been taken "for business reasons", "the continued uncertainty around the UK's future relationship with the EU is not helping companies like ours to plan for the future".
Analysts said that US President Donald Trump's trade battles were continuing to "shadow the Japanese auto industry".
They said that while immediate fears of extra tariffs on Japanese auto exports have been put off for now, they may revive depending upon Japan-US trade talks.
Japanese carmakers are also bracing for the impact of the US-China trade dispute, they added.
Fellow Japanese automaker Honda last week logged a net-profit fall of 34.5% for the nine months to December but revised up its full-year forecasts thanks to strong motorcycle sales.
Nissan is to announce results next week, the first since its former chairman Carlos Ghosn was arrested on November 19 for financial misconduct.
