TOKYO, Oct 22, 2001 (AFXAsia via COMTEX) Yahoo Japan Inc president Masahiro Inoue said the company expects earnings in the second half of the year to be the same as the first half, hoping for an increase in sales and profit over the previous year.
"Overall revenues increased in the first half of the year despite a decline in advertising sales due to economic weakness and the growing number of cancellations from clients in the wake of the terrorist attacks," Inoue said.
"The Yahoo BB (broadband) auction businesses compensated for the loss in advertising revenue," he told a briefing after the first half results.
Yahoo Japan reported parent pretax profit of 4.15 bln yen, from 2.05 bln the year before, with net profit of 2.39 bln, from 1.17 bln, on revenue of 11.87 bln yen, up from 5.40 bln.
"In the mid to longterm we are not so pessimistic about advertising because the internet population will steadily grow," Inoue said.
He said revenue in the second quarter from the broadband business of 3.03 bl n yen slightly overshadowed advertising sales of 3.02 bln, adding: "The broadband business will continue to exceed advertising revenue."
However, Inoue said overall operatingprofit margin fell to 35 pct in the period, from 39 pct last year, due to broadband business startup costs.
Yahoo Japan saw a record 5.9 bln page views in September, compared with 5.0 bln in June. Some 570,000 people had applied for subscription to the company's broadband service as of October 5. |
