Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. said Monday its consolidated pretax profits increased 10.2 percent during the first half of the business year to 18.85 billion yen.

These profits were generated on a 6.2 percent rise in group sales, which came in at 108.22 billion yen.

Its consolidated net profits, however, shrank 11.4 percent in the April-September period to 9.14 billion yen, primarily due to appraisal losses on stockholdings sustained under the nation's new accounting rules.