December 02, 2008

Japanese steelmakers to report lower profit - Nikkei

Nikkei reported that Japanese steelmakers will probably report smaller profit declines for the year ending March 2009 because they have managed to pass only part of increased costs to clients.

The newspaper, without saying where it obtained the information, reported that Nippon Steel Corp may report a 27% decline in operating profit to about JPY 400 billion (USD 3.8 billion) as compared with an earlier estimated 36%.

The newspaper said that Kobe Steel Ltd. may post an 11% drop in profit to about JPY 180 billion or JPY 10 billion higher than earlier forecast.