Kao Corp. said Monday its year-on-year net profit fell 0.8 percent on a group basis to 31.4 billion yen in the April-September first half of fiscal 2001.
The major maker of cleansing, personal care and sanitary products blamed the profit dip partly on a fall in investment returns.
In the period through Sept. 30, Kao said its consolidated pretax profit edged up 0.3 percent to 57.61 billion yen on sales of 421.54 billion yen, up 2.4 percent.
Net profit per share came to 51.78 yen in the six-month period, up from 51.25 yen in the corresponding period a year ago.
For the full year, Kao expects its net and pretax profits to amount, respectively, to 60 billion yen and 109 billion yen on sales of 840 billion yen, a marginal improvement from the previous fiscal year's 821.63 billion yen.