Kobe Steel Ltd. said Thursday it expects to swing back into the black in fiscal 2017 despite a data fabrication scandal that surfaced last fall, aided by brisk hydraulic shovel sales in China.
The nation's third-largest steel-maker is now expecting a group net profit of ¥45 billion ($413 million) for the business year ending in March, its first net profit in three years, on sales of ¥1.89 trillion, up 0.5 percent from estimates in October.
The scandal forced the company to withdraw its net profit forecast in October. In the latest estimate, it said the scandal has dented its profits by around ¥10 billion — ¥4 billion at its aluminum and copper operations and ¥6 billion at its steel divisions — in the current year.