Manufacturers' pretax profits nose-dived 94.3 percent in the October-December quarter from a year earlier to ¥397.6 billion, falling at the fastest pace on record, as the global recession battered export-dependent makers, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
On an all-industry basis except for the financial and insurance sectors, firms' pretax profits plunged 64.1 percent from a year earlier, posting the largest decline in 34 years, with electric machinery and communications equipment makers, as well as automakers, sinking into the red.
Nonmanufacturers saw their pretax profits tumble 35.0 percent.