Trading house Sumitomo Corp. said Thursday its group posted net profits of 10.31 billion yen in the April-June quarter, up 20 percent from a year earlier.
The rise was due mainly to increased investment profits in group firms, it said.
Consolidated sales, however, showed a 5 percent decline from a year earlier to 1.98 trillion yen, generating pretax profits of 17.14 billion yen, down 14 percent.
The decline in group sales stems from Sumitomo's strategy of cutting unprofitable businesses mainly in the domestic market, a company official said.
Sales fell after two of its subsidiaries changed their status to affiliates whose sales were excluded from the group account under U.S. accounting standards, the official said.
Sumitomo made no change in its projections for the group's earning results in its full business year, ending March 31, with net profits of 55 billion yen on sales of 9.5 trillion yen.