TOKYO-- Nippon Express Co., Japan's largest forwarder, on Friday reported double-digit declines in operating and net profits for the six-month period to the end of September.

Group sales for the first half of fiscal 2007 edged up 1.2 percent from a year earlier, to $8.2 billion, but operating profit declined by 10 percent to $181 million and net profit shrank 11.7 percent to $115 million, Nippon Express said.

The forwarder posted sales of $7.07 billion from its core transport business during the April-September period, up 0.7 percent from a year earlier.

Nippon Express said that although its domestic transport business is still slumping, its overseas transport business is growing, especially in the U.S., Europe and the Asia-Oceania region.

But operating profit from the transport business declined 13.3 percent, to $163 million, due to such factors as higher oil prices, the company said.

Nippon Express revised downward its group sales and profit forecasts for the full fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2008. The previous forecasts were made in May. It now expects sales of $17 billion, up 1.1 percent from fiscal 2006, operating profit of $440 million, down 3.0 percent, and net profit of $324 million, up 8.1 percent.

Hisane Masaki
The Journal of Commerce