Promise Co., the country's largest consumer lender by assets, reported Thursday a return to profit for the first half as costs for bad loans decline.
Net income totaled ¥11.8 billion for the six months that ended on Sept. 30, compared with a loss of ¥159 billion a year earlier, the Tokyo-based company said in a preliminary statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Revenue fell 11 percent to ¥170.1 billion from ¥190.5 billion.
Consumer lenders including Promise are returning to profit after losses last year when the government and courts cracked down on interest charges and collection practices.
In September, Promise acquired smaller Sanyo Shinpan Finance Co. to help boost earnings.
Promise, which earlier forecast ¥1.2 billion profit for the six months, said bad-loan expenses were ¥12.4 billion less than it originally expected.