Profit up for Japan telecom firm KDDI

TOKYO, Apr 25 (AFP): Japan's number two telecom operator KDDI said today its net profit grew 20 per cent in the year ended in March despite losses of more than 200 million dollars from a powerful quake and tsunami. KDDI Corp.'s net profit came to 255.12 billion yen (3.1 billion dollars) in the year to March, up 19.9 per cent from the previous year, although the March 11 disaster caused special losses of 17.6 billion yen (214 million dollars). Lower corporate taxes helped offset losses from the disaster and from impaired assets, the company said. Its net profit for the January-March fourth quarter jumped to 52.48 billion yen from 118 million yen a year earlier due to the absence of hefty restructuring costs that weighed on the year-earlier earnings figure.