Fujiya Co. announced Thursday it posted a whopping net loss of 8 billion yen in the 2006 business year, down from a 1.8 billion yen loss the year before, after being hit by a sanitation scandal that forced the famous confectioner to suspend operations in about 890 shops and restaurants nationwide.

Fujiya, which admitted in January to using expired ingredients in cream puffs, cakes and other products, said sales dropped 24.7 percent to 63.9 billion yen and that it would post an operating loss of 6.6 billion yen.

"Most of the losses were incurred as a result of the business suspension" for most of January through March, President Yasufumi Sakurai told a news conference.