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TOKYO,- Honda Motor Co swung on Wednesday to a first-quarter operating profit of 243.21 billion yen ($2.23 billion) from a 113.7 billion loss a year ago as car sales recovered from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Operating profit at Japan's No.2 car maker by sales for the three months ended June 30 was double the average profit estimate of 119.2 billion yen based on nine analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.

Honda raised its full-year forecast by 18% and now expects an operating profit of 780 billion yen in the current financial year, having previously forecast in May a 660 billion yen operating profit.

The new forecast is higher than an average forecast of a 764 billion yen operating profit from 19 analysts polled by Refinitiv.

($1 = 109.0400 yen)

(Reporting by Maki Shiraki in Tokyo and Norihiko Shirouzu in Beijing; Writing by Jamie Freed; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)