NYK to seek further rise in profit

NYK to seek further rise in profit    Tokyo-based Nippon Yusen Kaisha will continue to aim for higher profits following the record results earned in the first half of the current fiscal year.
   NYK boosted its net income by 173 percent in the six-month period ended Sept. 30, 2003, to 21.3 billion yen ($199 million), as its shipping business returned a large increase in operating profits, while extraordinary financial items also helped its bottom line.
   “We were able to register a record-breaking recurring profit of 37.4 billion yen ($349 million) for the first half of the fiscal year,” said NYK president Takao Kusakari. “The recovery of our liner shipping business was a particularly important contributing factor.”
   Yet, Kusakari added that, in terms of the outlook for the full-year recurring profit, NYK’s figures “leave something to be desired when compared with the projections of rival companies.”
   “Moreover, partly because our non-shipping business has not grown smoothly, the stock market is lowering its assessment of our company,” he added.
   Kusakari urged his staff to maintain efforts to increase profitability.
   “Are we so accustomed to our recent business success that we would take a recurring profit of 50 billion yen ($467 million) or 70 billion yen ($654 million) for granted?” he asked. He asked staff to clear up their ‘road maps’ for ‘an even greater leap forward.’
   Kusakari noted that, in 2003, the shipping community enjoyed a resurgence of activity. This year, “we expect the upswing to continue, running further ahead and carrying the shipping market toward increasing stability and prosperity,” he added.
   “At the same time, history reminds us that the shipping market can change unpredictably and run counter to expectations,” he warned, adding that NYK employees “must never let down (their) guard.”
   NYK, Japan’s largest shipping group, employs 33,000 people worldwide. Koji Miyahara will succeed Kusakari as president of the NYK group in April.