The global economic slowdown, a stronger yen and higher prices for fuel and raw materials hit the profits of major Japanese firms in the six months to September, a survey published yesterday showed.
The research by the Nikkei Shimbun on the midterm profits of 541 listed companies, collated from their earnings reports for the April to September period, showed a marked dip in profitability.
The combined earnings of the firms, in terms of group pre-tax profits, declined 21 percent year-on-year and were forecast to drop 23 percent in the full year to March, the paper said.
The survey did not include financial institutions and companies trading on markets for startups.
The slump would be the first decline in the combined performance for seven years, the Nikkei said.
Weakness in global consumption hit export-led firms particularly hard.
Electronics firms saw their profits fall 34 percent while automotive companies, including parts makers, suffered a 25 percent decline with Honda Motor Co and Nissan Motor Co hit by slow sales in North America, the Nikkei said.
Office equipment maker Ricoh Co was hit by a 30 percent tumble in profit as demand for copy machines slowed in the US and Japan. Demand in Europe also started to slip in Europe in August.
The yen, which stood at 115 to the dollar at the end of September last year, had risen to 105 a year later, also hurting exporters.
The Japanese currency surged to the ¥90 level late last month for the first time in 13 years on fears of global recession.
Sony Corp’s profit fell by about ¥20 billion (US$203 million), a decline partly attributed to the stronger yen, the Nikkei said.
In the July to September quarter, the profits of the 541 firms decreased by 30 percent from a year earlier, while the year-on-year drop was forecast to be 25 percent for the six months to March, it said.
Also See: US maintenance of Japan relations is key to region
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
RSS