Nippon Sheet Glass Co announced in May that recurring profit for the business year to March 1997 climbed 48.9% from a year earlier to Y3.196m on a 327.7% rise in operating profit. Sales rose only 0.3% to Y206.5bn but the firm successfully reduced costs and restructured its operations, boosting the operating profit to Y4.8bn, company officials said. After-tax profit fell 15.9% to Y1.53bn because it recorded a loss of Y1.25bn for the planned liquidation of an affiliated company in France, they said. Increased tax payments also negatively affected profit levels. For the current year to March 1998, Nippon Sheet Glass projects a recurring profit of Y4bn, up 25.2% on the previous year, and an after-tax profit of Y2bn, up 30.5%. Total sales are estimated to rise 1.7% to Y210bn.
