Starzen Co., Japan's largest meat dealer, said Tuesday it expects a parent-only net loss of 1 billion yen for the 2001 business year.
The loss, laid to appraisal losses on its securities holdings and the earmarking of reserves for its subsidiaries' investment losses, marks a sharp reversal from the net profit of 250 million yen projected on Nov. 29.
Starzen, hit by a scandal in late February involving the false labeling of its products, said it expects sales of 190 billion yen, down from the earlier projected 196 billion yen, as a result of the mislabeling scandal.
But it did not change its projected unconsolidated pretax profit of 1.4 billion yen.
Starzen also said it has put its eight-member quality control division under direct control of the president to prevent a similar scandal.
Starzen earlier this month admitted having fabricated labels for beef and chicken products in addition to the fabrication of labels for pork products at its meat packaging center in Saga Prefecture.