Most enterprises listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Exchange Market have announced their performances for the business year ended March 31. Increased exports to emerging economies like China and India and cost-reduction efforts have enabled many firms to become profitable — a stark contrast with the business year ended in March 2009 when most firms suffered large declines in both sales and profits due to the global financial crisis.
Improvement appears to be accelerating. For example, all eight major electronics makers expect profits for the current business year (ending March 2011). For the 2009 business year, four were in the black; the other four cut their amount of red ink.
One common condition for Japanese companies is the increasing weight that the Asian market has exerted in their sales. While sales in North America and Europe, which have suffered more from the global recession, dropped greatly, the sales decline in the Asian market was relatively small. According to a Kyodo News survey of 50 major manufacturing companies, the Asian market's share of sales rose 1.4 points from the previous business year to 19.2 percent. This trend is especially noticeable among auto and machinery makers and chemical producers.