Japanese tire-maker Bridgestone Corp. said Friday that it suffered an operating loss of 7.6 billion yen or 79.7 million dollars for April-June quarter as against a profit of 31.2 billion yen for the same period last year.

Bridgestone Corp said it was hit by the prolonged slump in auto demand at home and abroad. Stronger yen further eroded company's revenue. But, the company raised its earnings outlook for the full year.

Bridgestone informed that it suffered a net loss of 38.3 billion yen, reversing a net profit of 37.2 billion yen during the same period in the previous year.

Company's sales took a plunge of 27% from a year earlier to settle at 1.2 trillion yen.

Sales for the full year are expected to reach 2.6, down 19% from previous year.

In spite of plunging auto-demand worldwide, the company said its net profit for 2009 would increase to 6 billion yen. The company was earlier projected not to make any profit.

A fall in the raw-materials' costs would facilitate the company to accomplish its annual profit goal.

Bridgestone shares slipped 0.2% to 1,690 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.