Results From Taisho, Kissei And Tsumura

Among Japanese drugmakers reporting results for the year ended March 31, 1996, Taisho saw sales rise 4.7% to 220.9 billion yen ($2.02 billion), recurring profits increase 11.4% to 61.95 billion yen and net profit improve 16.1% to 31.99 billion yen. For the coming fiscal year, Taisho expects sales to rise to 223 billion yen, but recurring profit to decline to 54 billion yen and net profit to be down to 28 billion yen, given the sluggish outlook for ethical drugs, over-the-counter medicines and tonic drinks, as well as the government cuts in official drug prices (Marketletters passim).

Sales at Kissei improved nearly 3% to 55.3 billion yen, with recurring profits up 4.4% at 14.86 billion yen and net profit rising 7.7% to 6.97 billion yen. For the coming year, the firm expects sales to rise to 56 billion yen, and recurring and net profits to decline to 11.90 billion yen and 5.83 billion yen respectively.

Tsumura's sales increased a modest 1.6% to 98.2 billion yen, but recurring profits jumped 28% to 8.24 billion yen, though net profit was down sharply (-56.4%) at 950 million yen. For the coming year, Tsumura expects sales to reach 103.0 billion yen, recurring profits of 8.3 billion yen and net profits at 4.8 billion yen.