Trading house Marubeni Corp. said Friday that its group net profit for the first half of fiscal 2006 jumped 72 percent year-on-year to 65.6 billion yen, led by robust earnings in its energy business and the yen's depreciation against other currencies.

Marubeni's net profit during the April-September period was a record high for the third consecutive year.

Operating profit in the fiscal first half to Sept. 30 surged 39 percent from the previous year to 90.8 billion yen, while sales rose 16.7 percent to 4.68 trillion yen.