Yahoo Japan Foresees Brisk Profit Growth for FY ’06

Tokyo, Jan. 24 (Jiji Press)–Yahoo Japan Corp. said Wednesday its consolidated profits will grow sharply in fiscal 2006, thanks to increasing ad revenue and brisk performance of its Internet auction and shopping services.

For the year ending in March, group recurring profit is expected at between 100.43 billion and 101.58 billion yen, up 25.7-27.2 pct over the previous year.

Net profit is seen at 56.22 billion to 56.97 billion yen, up 19.4- 21.0 pct. Sales are forecast to be between 209.1 billion and 211.1 billion yen, up 20.4-21.6 pct.

In the three months through last December, net profit rose 20.0 pct from a year before to 15,712 million yen. Recurring profit was up 29.5 pct at 26,630 million yen, on sales of 54,522 million yen, up 16.9 pct.

The number of stores open at Yahoo’s auction and shopping sites more than doubled from a year earlier to some 25,000 by the end of last December.

For January-March, Yahoo anticipates a largely flat performance compared with the year before. President Masahiro Inoue said that demand for some services is expected to soar toward the end of the fiscal year, but its electronic commerce operations tend to weaken. [EARNINGS]END

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