Many Japan Firms Cut FY '18 Net Profit Forecasts: Jiji Tally

Tokyo, Feb. 1 (Jiji Press)--Sixty-seven major Japanese nonfinancial companies have revised down their group net profit forecasts for fiscal 2018, against 43 that have made upward revisions, a Jiji Press survey showed Friday. Companies are growing bearish in response to stagnant sales in China amid heightened concerns about the country's economic deceleration reflecting its trade friction with the United States. The survey covered 488 nonfinancial companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section that close their books in March and had announced consolidated earnings for April-December last year by Friday. They account for 36 pct of all first-section nonfinancial firms with the same book-closing period. Machine tool maker Fanuc Corp. <6954> lowered its earnings projections for the full year ending in March due to a fall in capital investment demand in China. Also blaming sluggishness in China, automotive parts makers Denso Corp. <6902> and Aisin Seiki Co. <7259> trimmed their sales and profit forecasts. Stagnation in global smartphone sales, which led U.S. technology giant Apple Inc. to incur drops in sales and profits for the first time in nine quarters, have started to affect Japanese companies. Nitto Denko Corp. <6988>, which manufactures optical films for smartphones, revised down its earnings forecasts as demand for such products are not growing as much as it expected. The survey also found that sales at the 488 firms in April-December increased 3.5 pct from a year earlier. But their net profits slid 5 pct. "Moves to announce downward revisions are likely to slow because many domestic demand-oriented companies will announce earnings," said Daiwa Securities Co. equity strategist Kazuhiro Takahashi. END