Japan Tobacco's Fiscal-Year Profit Rises 32%

Source from:  MarketWatch 04/27/2012

TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Japan Tobacco Inc. said Thursday that its net profit for the fiscal ended March grew 32%, due to strength in its overseas tobacco and pharmaceutical business. The world's third-largest tobacco company by sales volume after Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) and British American Tobacco PLC (BTI), posted a net profit of Y320.88 billion in the just-ended business year against a Y243.32 billion profit a year earlier. Revenue dropped 1.2% to Y2.034 trillion from Y2.059 trillion, while operating profit increased 14% to Y459.18 billion from Y401.32 billion. The earnings are based on International Financial Reporting Standards, which the company has decided to adopt from the just-ended business year to better account for global sales in more than 120 countries. Only a handful of Japanese companies have introduced IFRS accounting standards. For this fiscal year ending March 2013, the company predicts a 0.9% decline in net profit to Y318 billion with a 5.2% rise in operating profit to Y483 billion. Revenue is pegged at Y2.120 trillion, up 4.2%. Separately, JT also said it is considering buying back shares worth Y250 billion in preparation for the government's stake sale. The Japanese government plans to cut its 50% stake in JT to one third, by selling about 16.6% of JT's outstanding shares, to raise funds for reconstruction after the March disaster. Enditem