Honda Motor cut its annual forecasts for car sales and net profit after posting a drop in first-half earnings due partly to weakness in its auto business in China.Net profit declined 20% from a year earlier to 494.

Japan's Honda Motor reported a 15% decline in second-quarter operating profit at 257.9 billion yen ($1.68 billion), on Wednesday, missing analysts' expectations while keeping its full-year profit forecast.

Honda said its profits slipped nearly 20% in the first half of the fiscal year from the same period the previous year, as sales suffered in China, the Japanese automaker.