Japan Inc sees bigger profit fall than expected

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TOKYO, Aug 9 (AFP): Japan Inc has forecast a bigger profit decline than its earlier estimate for the year to March 2009 due to price hikes and an economic slowdown at home and in the United States, a daily said today.

Combined full-year group pretax profit is now seen falling 9.2 per cent, compared with the initially estimated 5.6 per cent, the Nikkei business daily said in its survey.

The newspaper covered 1,324 listed firms that had reported their April-June quarterly earnings by Friday.

Some 140 firms have recently downgraded their full-year earnings projections as rising fuel and material costs eroded earnings while the Japanese and US economies are slowing, the daily said.