Kureha's H1 op profit fall 20.2% to Y2.95bn

13 November 2006 09:11  [Source: ICIS news]

TOKYO (ICIS news)--Kureha, a Japanese chemicals firm, said on Monday its fiscal first half operating income fell 20.2%.

The company did not specifically state the reasons for the overall decrease.

Consolidated operating income for the six months ending 30 September was 2.95bn yen (Y) ($25.1bn/€19.5m), down from Y3.7bn a year ago. Net sales increased 1.5% to Y63.1bn from Y62.1bn, while net income decreased 15.8% to Y1.3bn from Y1.5bn.

In the functional products segment, polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) had higher sales because the plants capacities had been increased to meet expanded demand for automobile, electric and electronics applications.

It was also helped by the success of a joint venture in the US.

However, operating profit for PPS decreased partly due to the fire at a PPS plat in early September. As a result, operating profit for the functional products segment rose 11% to Y16.7bn from Y15bn a year ago, while operating income fell 1.8% to Y1.6bn from Y1.7bn.

In the chemicals segment, operating profit for the medical and agrochemicals business decreased, while industrial chemicals business had higher operating income supported by the infiltration of the shift of high feedstock costs to the product prices of caustic soda and hydrochloric acid.

As a result, the chemicals segment recorded net sales of Y13.9bn, a decrease of 7.4% from Y15bn in the previous year. Operating profit fell 42.9% to Y1.2bn from Y2.1bn

By: Tomomi Yokomura
+65 6780 4359

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