Japan Tobacco’s Quarterly Profit Drops 47% on Domestic Sales, Stronger Yen
Japan Tobacco Inc., the world’s third-largest publicly traded cigarette maker, said first- quarter profit fell 47 percent after domestic sales dropped and a stronger yen reduced the value of overseas earnings.
Net income dropped to 22.8 billion yen (1 million) for the three months ended June, compared with 42.9 billion yen a year earlier, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement today. Last year’s profit was inflated by a one-time gain of 9.1 billion yen from the sale of corporate housing. Total sales rose 0.3 percent to 1.47 trillion yen.
Japan Tobacco said its cigarette sales in Japan may decline 16 percent this fiscal year as the government plans to raise taxes by 70 yen per pack in October. . . .
Japan Tobacco was also hammered by a stronger yen, which has risen against all the world’s major currencies in 2010
