Japan: Japanese brewery, Sapporo Holdings Ltd.'s posted on Friday, October 29, a group net profit of Y9.82 billion (US$92.4 million), up from a net loss of Y23.21 billion (US$218.5 million) for the same period last year. The company ascribed the increase to brisk sales of beer during the summer. Its group operating profit jumped to Y17.82 billion (US$167.7 million) from a loss of Y585 million (US$5.5 million) and its group sales climbed to Y363.75 billion (US$3.4 billion) from Y342.87 billion US$3.2 billion).

The company kept unchanged its earnings forecasts for the fiscal year through December. It continues to expect a group net profit of Y5 billion (US$47.1 million) and sales of Y490 billion (US$4.6 billion), Dow Jones revealed.

03 November, 2004