Listed Japanese companies are set to report record pre-tax profits this year with companies across all sectors seeing an aggregate 21% gain in the current fiscal year ending March 31 2004.
Pre-tax profit is expected to exceed Y19,000 billion ($169.6 billion), according to a survey by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper, beating the Y17,000 billion reported in fiscal 2000.
Increasing levels of private capital investment, export-led demand, continued restructuring efforts and a buoyant stock market are cited as factors behind the gains, which are seen as mounting evidence that Japane's economic recovery is gaining momentum.