Toray Industries suffered a 24.5 percent drop in net income to 48.5 billion yen (€367.9m-$478.3m), falling below its previous projections as its sales grew by only 0.2 percent to ¥1,592 billion (€12.0b-$15.7b) due to lower demand from the automotive sector and the economic slowdown in Europe and China. However, its technical fibers sold well. The diversified Japanese company is expecting better profits this year, thanks in part to the lower value of the yen.