Asahi Breweries Ltd. said Thursday its group fiscal 2002 midterm net profit soared due to smaller extraordinary losses, but a decline in sales has prompted it to lower consolidated earnings projections.
The brewery and beverage maker said consolidated net profit during the January-June first half soared 337.8 percent from a year earlier to 10.72 billion yen as its extraordinary loss declined. The group had a large loss a year earlier related to a shortfall in retirement reserves.
Net profit per share came to 20.9 yen, up from 4.85 yen a year earlier.
But consolidated sales fell 4.1 percent to 634.06 billion yen, due to sluggish sales of its mainstay beer segment.
Helped by lower interest payments, the group maintained 16.8 percent growth in pretax profit that amounted to 23.4 billion yen.
But Asahi Breweries revised downward its projections for the full fiscal year to December because sales in beer are unlikely to recover significantly, it added.
New projections are 17 billion yen in consolidated net profit, down from the initially expected 22 billion yen, and 57 billion yen in pretax profit, down from 76 billion yen, on sales of 1.42 trillion yen, down from 1.47 trillion yen.
In fiscal 2001, the company chalked up group net profit of 13.62 billion yen and pretax profit of 60.66 billion yen on sales of 1.43336 trillion yen.