Dentsu Inc., Japan's largest advertising agency, on Thursday announced consolidated net profit of 14.15 billion yen in the first half of fiscal 2000.

Group results in the six months to Sept. 30 also included an operating profit of 33.98 billion yen and a pretax profit of 32.79 billion yen on billings of 883.93 billion yen, Dentsu said.

Percentage comparisons with results a year earlier are not available because the Tokyo-based company did not previously release interim consolidated results.

The results in the fiscal first half reflect strong demand for advertising from the information, communications and financial sectors, Dentsu said.

General elections for the House of Representatives in June also contributed to strong demand.

On an unconsolidated basis, Dentsu posted year-on-year gains in profit -- 47.2 percent in net profit to 12.96 billion yen, 69.0 percent in operating profit to 26.69 billion yen and 64.0 percent in pretax profit to 27.70 billion yen.

Billings, which are equivalent to sales for other business corporations, grew 15.7 percent to 729.86 billion yen.

By category, billings rose 16.1 percent for newspapers, 4 percent for magazines, 15.5 percent for television, and 11.6 percent for radio. Billings for sales promotion, however, decreased 2 percent.