Asahi Glass Co. said it now estimates consolidated recurring profit for the business year through last March at 40 billion yen, up 37.9% from the previous forecast.
The upward revision is attributed …
Asahi Glass Co. said it now estimates consolidated recurring profit for the business year through last March at 40 billion yen, up 37.9% from the previous forecast. The upward revision is attributed to successful parent company cost-reduction efforts and decreased exchange losses, thanks to the regained stability in the currencies of Southeast Asian nations, company officials said. Asahi Glass will book 4 billion yen of retirement benefit-tied reserves as an extraordinary loss, but still expects to generate a consolidated net profit of 12 billion yen, up 50% from the earlier estimate. Estimated annual group sales were revised to 1.26 trillion yen, down 3.1% from the previous forecast, due to the yen“s strength, they said. On a parent-only basis, Asahi Glass lifted its recurring profit estimate by 46.2% to 19 billion yen and its sales forecast by 1.5% to 690 billion yen, mainly because of robust sales of glass for thin-film-transistor liquid crystal displays. The firm now expects to register a net profit of 3 billion yen, down a sharp 70% from the earlier estimate, as it will log a special loss of 18 billion yen in restructuring costs and losses linked to a change in accounting method, the officials said. Meanwhile, Asahi is to cease production of soda ash in Japan in 2001. It will also cut back production of chlorine and caustic soda, but will expand production of fluorine chemicals. The decision was made on environmental grounds.