Department store operator Daimaru Inc. said Friday that it posted a group net loss of 15.83 billion yen for the six months to Aug. 31, a sharp reversal from the 1.33 billion yen profit marked in the same period a year earlier.
The company attributed the loss to the writeoff of unfunded retirement and pension liabilities and appraisal losses on its shareholdings.
But group pretax profit for the first half rose 34.1 percent from a year earlier to 5.62 billion yen, while group operating revenues gained 2.9 percent to 398.42 billion yen.
Daimaru said it will not pay dividends for the first half but plans to pay a yearend dividend of 2.5 yen per share for the year to Feb. 28.
For the full year, the company forecasts a group net loss of 20 billion yen and a group pretax profit of 14.5 billion yen on operating revenues of 817.4 billion yen.
In the previous fiscal year, Daimaru reported a group net profit of 2.8 billion yen and a group pretax profit of 11.19 billion yen on operating revenues of 795.97 billion yen.