Struggling construction firm Kumagai Gumi Co. said Wednesday it remained in the red for the year ended March 31, with a group net loss of 2.65 billion yen after the previous year's loss of 4.62 billion yen.

While the company booked an extraordinary loss of 430.2 billion yen connected to the write-off of bad assets, its group net loss was almost halved after it was granted a large debt forgiveness by its creditor banks, it said.

Last December, Kumagai Gumi's 15 creditor banks agreed to forgive 430 billion yen in loans to the troubled contractor as part of a major restructuring plan.

On a group pretax level, Kumagai Gumi held on to a profit of 667 million yen in the just-ended year, down 8.3 percent from the previous year, thanks mainly to an aggressive cost-cutting drive, it said.

Group revenues were down 0.7 percent to 793.41 billion yen as income from its core construction business fell 1.1 percent while that from the real estate business rose 5 percent.

The company will pay no dividend for the fourth consecutive year.

For the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2002, Kumagai Gumi forecasts a group net profit of 2 billion yen and a group pretax profit of 8 billion yen on group revenues of 730 billion yen.

On an unconsolidated basis, the company posted a net loss of 152.75 billion yen in the year ended March 31, a reversal from the previous year's profit of 2.76 billion yen, and a pretax profit of 3.25 billion yen, down 41.4 percent, on revenues of 681.90 billion yen, down 1.4 percent.