Major trading house Mitsui & Co. said Thursday its consolidated pretax profits for fiscal 2000 expanded 54.7 percent from the previous year to 79.63 billion yen, helped by securities sales.

Group net profits surged 48.1 percent to 51.59 billion yen under U.S. accounting rules in the reporting year that ended March 31, the company said.

Operating profits, however, declined 10.4 percent to 55.13 billion yen, due to an increase in an allowance for uncollectable accounts, it said.