Japan's three major shipping companies announced Friday that their unconsolidated profits increased in the first half of fiscal 1999.
Nippon Yusen K.K. reported a record high unconsolidated pretax profit of 18 billion yen in the April-September period, more than doubling the figure from the same period last year. Its sales were also at a record high of 345.9 billion yen, up 1.3 percent from the previous year.
Although the sharp appreciation of the yen against the dollar lowered a growth rate of its revenues, the firm's cost-cutting efforts and busy maritime transportation activity, mainly on the North Pacific route, have contributed to the increase in the profits, company officials said.