The country's three largest general contractors reported mixed consolidated business results Thursday for the fiscal first half from April to September on the back of firm demand for private-sector construction.

Taisei Corp. booked a group net profit of 2.27 billion yen, down 3.8 percent from a year earlier, on 697.30 billion yen in sales, up 12.7 percent.

For the full year, Taisei forecasts a 25.7 percent rise in group net profit to 24 yen billon a projected 2.5 percent increase in sales to 1.75 trillion yen.

Kajima Corp. posted a group net profit of 3.80 billion yen for the first half, reversing a loss of 2.61 billion yen for the same period last year as sales climbed 7.1 percent to 784.49 billion yen.

The company's full-year group net profit is forecast at 18.50 billion yen, up 40.0 percent from the previous year on 1.7 trillion yen in sales, up 0.7 percent.

Shimizu Corp. more than doubled its first-half group net profit to 10.99 billion yen on nearly unchanged sales of 555.59 billion yen, thanks to strong cost-cutting measures.

Annual group net profit is forecast to rise 14.7 percent from the previous year to 23.50 billion yen on sales of 1.41 trillion yen, down 5.0 percent.