Shiseido Co. not only returned to profitability for the first time in three years in fiscal 2002 but also logged record earnings thanks to strong overseas sales and cost-cutting efforts, the company said Wednesday.
The nation's largest cosmetics maker posted a group net profit of 24.5 billion yen, against a net loss of 22.77 billion yen a year ago.
Overseas sales, which account for 25 percent of total revenue, jumped 16.5 percent, pushing group sales to a record 621.25 billion yen, up 5.3 percent. The weaker yen against local currencies also helped.
The group operating profit -- sales minus the cost of goods sold and sales and administrative expenses -- soared 91.6 percent to 48.99 billion yen, helped by across-the-board cost-cutting measures.
For the business year that just ended, Shiseido booked a one-time charge of 6.8 billion yen due to the declining value of its shareholdings. But President Morio Ikeda defended the firm's recent purchase of 15 billion yen in shares from Mizuho Financial Group Inc., citing the firm's historic ties to the lender.