Releasing its first financial results since its sale on Sept. 1 to an investment consortium led by Softbank Corp., Nippon Credit Bank said Friday its operating and pretax balances moved back into the black in the first half of fiscal 2000.

During the six-month period through Sept. 30, which includes the five months through Sept. 1 when it was under state control, the bank posted a parent-only operating profit of 54.7 billion yen. This marked a sharp upturn from a loss of 12.45 billion yen posted in the same period last year.

Pretax profit also moved into the black, coming in at 98.63 billion yen against a loss of 99.64 billion yen a year earlier. Net profit was 89.93 billion yen in the reporting period.

In logging the operating profit, the bank transferred back to its operating balance as much as 47.40 billion yen from its general loan-loss reserves, which were built up during the bank's government-administered period.

Operating profit -- the preferred gauge of a bank's core profitability -- is based on a bank's core operations, such as lending and commissions.

Parent-only operating revenue -- which corresponds to sales at nonfinancial firms -- came in at 227.06 billion yen, up 66.7 percent from a year before.

Regarding nonperforming loans, NCB said it had to book a sizable 84.28 billion yen in loan-loss charges in the April-September period to ward off the impact of possible losses stemming from a sharp fall in the value of collateral. That figure compares with 68.11 billion yen a year earlier.

In the full year to March 31, the bank plans to book 90 billion yen in loan-loss charges, up from the initially scheduled 54 billion yen.

NCB said it has asked the government to buy back 19 billion yen in problem loans, under a loan-buyback clause in the purchase contract between the consortium and the government.

The clause empowers NCB to demand the government buy back any loan whose collateral value has plummeted by more than 20 percent from the time of the bank's purchase.

The 19 billion yen in question relates to an unidentified business group and a company that have recently asked a court to start liquidation proceedings, the bank said.

Despite the large loan-loss charges, the bank still succeeded in logging robust pretax profit thanks to the realization of 129.54 billion yen in latent gains on its stock holdings, it said.

The bank, seeking to establish itself as a major player in the banking industry, said it will skip an interim common-stock dividend payment.

For the full fiscal year, NCB forecasts a parent-only pretax profit of 99 billion yen -- marking a significant turnaround from a large loss a year before -- and a net profit of 100 billion yen on operating revenues of 300 billion yen.