Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co. said Thursday its group net profit dived 30.9 percent from a year earlier to 20.03 billion yen in the first half of the 2004 business year due to a series of one-off losses.
Pretax profit jumped 17.9 percent to 56.53 billion yen on sales of 220.20 billion yen, down 7.9 percent.
The major pharmaceutical manufacturer, with its strength in prescription drugs, attributed the decreased net profit to extraordinary losses.
They include the cost of its merger with Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co., scheduled for next April 1.
For the full year to next March 31, Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical expects a group net profit of 35.5 billion yen and a pretax profit of 99.5 billion yen on sales of 440 billion yen.