General contractors recently released their much anticipated fiscal 2000 financial statements. These companies are widely believed to be among the firms most negatively affected by the prolonged economic slowdown, which is marked by falling real estate prices.

In general, however, major general contractors stabilized their balance sheets by increasing operating profits in fiscal 2000.

Taisei Corp., for example, reported consolidated operating profits of 66.747 billion yen, up 53 percent from the previous year.