Nippon Yusen K.K. reported Thursday an 18.5 percent decline in its group net profit for fiscal 2002 but said continued streamlining drives helped lift its pretax profit after a double-digit decline the previous year.
The shipping firm reported a group net profit of 14.29 billion yen for the business year to March 31, down from a 17.54 billion yen profit the previous year.
Group pretax profit rose 0.5 percent to 50.34 billion yen, operating profit rose 5.4 percent to 69.12 billion yen and revenues grew 9.3 percent to 1.249 trillion yen.
Nippon Yusen said group-wide cost reductions contributed to the upturn in pretax profit and revenues, despite higher fuel prices and negative foreign-exchange factors. The lower net profit stemmed mainly from heavier tax burdens.
In the previous year, Nippon Yusen reported a 50.7 percent slide in net profit and a 29.7 percent fall in pretax profit on a consolidated basis.
For the current business year, it forecasts a group net profit of 33 billion yen and pretax profit of 70 billion yen on revenues of 1.3 trillion yen.