Internet portal Yahoo Japan Corp. said Tuesday its group net profit for April to December last year rose 20.6 percent to ¥56.0 billion on sales of ¥220.8 billion, up 17.6 percent, thanks to robust demand for Internet advertising.
While television and newspaper ad demand has weakened amid the global economic deterioration, Internet ad demand has remained brisk, Yahoo said.
Its group operating profit rose 8.8 percent to ¥99.1 billion and pretax profit 10.4 percent to ¥97.9 billion for the first nine months of the 2008 business year, it said.
For the full business year ending in March, Yahoo said it plans to increase its dividend to ¥127 to ¥130, from ¥104 last year.