Daikyo Inc., a leading condominium builder known for its Lions Mansion condos, said Friday it posted a 383.74 billion yen group net profit in the six months to Sept. 30 due to debt-waivers by four banks.

The waivers were worth a combined 410 billion yen.

The net profit compares with a meager net profit of 158 million yen in the corresponding period a year earlier.

A Daikyo official said the firm did not provide any figure for a year-on-year percentage comparison, saying it would be "meaningless" to do so because the favorable effect from the one-off factor of the waiver was too large.

Group pretax profit for the first half of fiscal 2002 fell 6 percent to 1.78 billion yen on sales of 145.26 billion yen, down 7.4 percent.

Per-share net profit shot up to 2,076.63 yen from 0.86 yen a year earlier.

On Sept. 10, Daikyo's four main banks -- UFJ Bank, Mizuho Corporate Bank, UFJ Trust Bank and Asahi Bank -- provided a combined 470 billion yen in financial aid to the firm, enabling it to eradicate the negative net worth of 383.3 billion yen.

The financial aid consisted of the 410 billion yen debt-waivers and a combined 60 billion yen in debt-for-equity swaps.

Daikyo said it will skip payment of both midterm and yearend dividends, as it did a year before.

For the year to March 31, Daikyo predicts its net balance will return to the black at 399.5 billion yen, a turnaround from a loss of 386.8 billion yen the previous year, on projected sales of 323 billion yen, down from 342.48 billion yen.

Group pretax profit will likely come to 9 billion yen, up from 8.43 billion yen, it said.