Yahoo Japan Corp, said on Wednesday its net profit more than doubled since Q1 of 2003 and it forecast further strong growth, thanks to its online auction and Web advertising businesses. Net profit for the year to March 31 rose to 24.8 billion yen ($227.7 million) from 12.1 billion yen a year earlier as sales rose 28.2 percent to 75.8 billion yen.
Reuters Reports
Yahoo Japan said it expected a net profit of 6.85 to 7.75 billion yen for the April-June quarter, up from 4.54 billion yen a year earlier.
The company is 33.5 percent owned by U.S. Internet portal Yahoo Inc and 42 percent owned by Japanese Internet services firm Softbank Corp.
It runs Japan’s largest online auction service and its online advertising business has seen strong demand from corporate clients.
Yahoo Japan’s high-speed ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) Internet service, which was launched in 2001 with Softbank, has become Japan’s largest ADSL operation with about four million subscribers, helped by cut-rate prices and an aggressive sales campaign.
The results come two weeks after California-based Yahoo posted a first quarter profit that was more than double that in the same quarter last year.
Shares in Yahoo Japan closed up 0.83 percent at 1.22 million yen prior to the news. The Nikkei average ended down 0.07 percent.
Sugoiii! Yahoo Japan no Q1 profit margin ga totemo Yahoo.com mitaii desu ne! Earlier in the month Yahoo.com announced that it had earned $101 million, or 14 cents a share, compared with $47 million, or 8 cents, a year ago. Yanikoii youko dekita desu na! Again, such numbers show that Yahoo is setting the course when it comes to integrating online advertising, search enigne technology, and online community.
