Dentsu Inc. said Monday its group net profit in the fiscal first half fell 76.6 percent from a year earlier to 6.80 billion yen.
The decline was attributed to the lack of hefty one-time gains tied to the sale of shareholdings booked a year earlier.
Dentsu booked capital gains of 35.70 billion yen from the sale of shareholdings in the first half of fiscal 2002. This was connected to the purchase of an equity stake in Publicis Groupe S.A., a French advertising agency.
In its consolidated earnings report, Japan's largest advertising agency also reported that its pretax profit dropped 29.4 percent to 16.58 billion yen. Its operating profit declined 30 percent to 16.58 billion yen, on a 2.3 percent decline in revenue to 816.74 billion yen.