Yahoo Japan's Q3 net profit hits record high on advertising business - UPDATE |
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Wed, 24 Jan 2007 08:33
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TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - Yahoo Japan Corp, an on-line auctioneer and Internet advertising company, made a record net profit in the fiscal third quarter ended December, driven mainly by its advertising business, the company said.Softbank Corp owns 41.3 pct of Yahoo Japan.Yahoo Japan posted a third-quarter net profit of 15.17 bln yen, up from 12.65 bln yen a year earlier. Current profit rose 29.5 pct to a record 26.63 bln yen, operating profit expanded by 31.1 pct to a record 27.70 bln yen and revenue increased 16.9 pct to a record 54.52 bln yen.In October, the company had forecast net profit of 13.65-15.20 bln yen and current profit of 24.0-26.5 bln yen on revenue of 51.7-55.2 bln yen.Yahoo Japan president and chief executive Masahiro Inoue told a press conference: 'Although advertising demand from so-called national clients has been somewhat weaker than we had expected, we managed to increase the number of clients by focussing on smaller ones, allowing us to see sustained growth in this business.'The third-quarter operating profit of Yahoo Japan's advertising business jumped to 12.1 bln yen from 9.6 bln yen a year earlier and from 11.75 bln yen in the second quarter.'As bigger clients are starting to indicate that they will become less cautious about spending heavily on advertising, we are hoping for a strong rise in the fourth quarter,' Inoue said.Yahoo Japan said there had also been major growth in its auction business owing to an upturn in the number of users since the easing of verification rules for exhibitors.The value of transactions made through its auction site was 2.2 bln yen per day in the fiscal third quarter, up from 1.81 bln yen in the second quarter, the company said.The personal service division, which includes the auction business, logged third-quarter operating profit of 12.91 bln yen, up from 9.92 bln yen a year earlier and 11.71 bln yen in the second quarter.Inoue said his company had not so far benefitted from Softbank's foray into the cellphone service business.'Cellular phones have not become the main tool for browsing, as people still use them as e-mail and voice communication equipment,' Inoue said. 'So, we would like to take time to increase the number of cellular phone users of our site and create a solid business model.'For the fourth quarter, Yahoo Japan is forecasting net profit of 14.25-15.0 bln yen and current profit of 26.1-27.25 bln yen on revenue of 54.20-56.20 bln yen.(1 usd = 121.56 yen)yasuhiko.seki@xfn.com
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Yahoo Japan's Q3 net profit hits record high on advertising business 