Asahi National Broadcasting Co., better known as TV Asahi, said Tuesday it chalked up consolidated net profits of 5.42 billion yen in the first half of fiscal 2001, up 1.6 percent from a year earlier.
The broadcaster posted these interim gains after slashing its extraordinary losses to 648 million yen. A year earlier, the firm had booked one-time losses of 1.82 billion yen, including 65.9 billion yen in appraisal losses on securities holdings.
TV Asahi also said its consolidated pretax profits grew 1.4 percent to 10.24 billion yen following a 1.9 percent rise in group operating revenues to 114.78 billion yen.
The company will pay an interim dividend of 300 yen per share, unchanged from a year earlier.
For the entire fiscal year through March, TV Asahi is projecting net profits of 6.2 billion yen and pretax profits of 12.3 billion yen on operating revenues of 221.7 billion yen.
This forecast reflects the company's anticipation of a decrease in corporate demand for TV commercials, with economic activity expected to weaken further in the fiscal second half.
In the preceding year, the company posted net profits of 9.95 billion yen, pretax profits of 19.19 billion yen and operating revenues of 225.2 billion yen.