Cellular phone subscription agent Hikari Tsushin Inc. said Monday its group fell into the red during the business year that ended Aug. 31, posting net losses of 56.35 billion yen.
It marks a sharp reversal from the results of the year before, when it logged profits of 5.07 billion yen.
The company attributed the poor earnings to reduced demand in the information technology sector and changes in the mobile phone market, both of which cut into its product sales and commission revenues. Hefty investment losses of some 15.44 billion yen, incurred by the restructuring of e-mail service unit Crayfish Co., was another hit on overall performance, the firm said.
The group posted group pretax losses of 8.11 billion yen, compared with profits of 47.63 billion yen logged the previous year, on sales of 123.08 billion yen, down 61.1 percent.
Hikari Tsushin will pay no dividends for the full year.
For the current business year through next Aug. 31, Hikari Tsushin expects to generate group net profits of 2.4 billion yen and pretax profits of 3.4 billion yen on sales of 123.2 billion yen.