Japan's Asahi Kasei H1 net profit falls by 38.4%

05 November 2008 07:37  [Source: ICIS news]

TOKYO (ICIS news)--Japan’s Asahi Kasei on Wednesday posted a 38.4% decrease in its first-half net profits from the previous year to yen (Y) 23.4bn ($233.8m), impacted by high feedstock costs and decreased market prices, the chemical producer said.

Consolidated net sales in the six months ended 30 September was Y843.2bn, a 1.5% increase from the same period last year, the firm added.

In the chemicals segment, first-half net sales rose 1.5% to Y453.2bn due to the increase in sales of lithium ion batteries on robust demand. The monomer and polymer businesses, however, were severely affected by the fall in market prices, both in Japan and regionally, and the sudden surge in feedstock costs, the company said.

Asahi Kasei forecast its net profits for the full year ending 31 March 2009 to decrease by 21.4% to Y55bn, while it expected net sales to increase by 2.5% to Y1,739bn, the producer said.

($1 = Y100.1)

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By: Tomomi Yokomura
+65 6780 4359

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