Japan Post expects FY 2005 net profit of 2 tril. yen

Japan Post is likely to chalk up a net profit of about 2 trillion yen in fiscal 2005 to March 31, up from the previous year’s 1.2 trillion yen, President Masaharu Ikuta said Friday.

Of the public corporation’s three core operations, the mail-delivery business is expected to stay in the black, with a net profit of more than 20 billion yen, for the third year in a row, Ikuta said at a lecture meeting held by Kyodo News.

The strong earnings outlook is ascribable to higher prices of Tokyo stocks resulting in an increase in returns on investment by the postal savings division, another of the three core operations which also include the postal life insurance business, according to analysts.

Japan Post is due to be privatized over a 10-year period starting in October 2007.