Japan's mail and postal savings services in fiscal 2001 recorded profits for the first time in four years, the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said Friday.
Mail services, including door-to-door parcel delivery, registered profits of 8 billion yen in the year that ended March 31, against losses of 10 billion yen the previous year.
Revenues from the mail business dipped 1.6 percent to 2.21 trillion yen, while expenses dropped 2.3 percent to 2.19 trillion yen.
The Postal Services Agency cut personnel costs by 20 billion yen in the reporting year, more than offsetting a decrease in the number of letters and parcels handled by the agency amid fierce competition from private firms.
Mail services are expected to see profits of 1 billion yen in the current fiscal year.
Postal savings services for fiscal 2001 saw 900 billion yen in profits, a turnaround from the previous year's losses of 1.3 trillion yen, the ministry said, adding that business is expected to generate profits of 122.83 billion yen in fiscal 2002.
The ministry said investment on postal insurance funds produced latent losses of 4.16 trillion yen in fiscal 2001, the first appraisal loss in that sector.