Business confidence among large companies improved in the July-September quarter for the first time in three quarters on the back of rising corporate profits and economic growth, the government said Friday.

The index of business conditions at companies capitalized at 1 billion yen or more came to 10.5 for all industries, a jump from 1.8 in the April-June quarter, according to the survey conducted jointly by the Cabinet Office and the Finance Ministry.

The index is compiled by subtracting the percentage of companies reporting deteriorating business conditions from that of firms reporting improvement.