Sri Lanka's United Motors eyeing US$5.47mln Dec qtr profit
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COLOMBO, Jan 27 Asia in Focus - UNITED MOTORS, which has theagency for Mitsubishi automobiles in Sri Lanka, said profitsgrew 71 per cent to 622 million rupees (US$5.47 million) in theDecember 2011 quarter from a year earlier. The firm reportedearnings of 9.26 rupees for the quarter in interim accountsfiled with the Colombo Stock Exchange.

* The firm reported earnings of 23.59 rupees on profits or1.58 billion rupees for the nine months ending December 2012.

* Sri Lanka now registers between 5,000 to 4,000 cars amonth, after taxes were cut giving high profits to firms.

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S.Korea's Kia Motors posts 2011 net profit of US$3.1bln
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SEOUL, Jan 27 Asia in Focus - KIA MOTORS CORP. (KSE:000270),South Korea\'s second-largest automaker, said Friday that itposted a record profit in 2011 thanks mainly to brisk sales inoverseas markets. Net profit reached 3.5 trillion won (US$3.1billion) last year, up 30.4 per cent from a year earlier, thecompany said in a regulatory filing.

* Sales jumped 20.6 per cent on-year to 43.2 trillion won in2011, and operating profit also shot up 41.6 per cent to 3.5trillion won.

* Kia Motors said the record-breaking performance isattributable to robust sales of its vehicles based on animproved brand image.

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S.Korea's Daewoo Engineering sees 2011 net income at US$203mln
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SEOUL, Jan 27 Asia in Focus - DAEWOO ENGINEERING &CONSTRUCTION CO. (KSE:047040), a leading South Korean builder,said Friday its net income rebounded into positive territory in2011, fueled by record high orders. Net income came to 228.2billion won (US$203.4 million) last year, a turnaround from a813.6 billion won loss a year earlier, the company said in aregulatory filing.

* Sales rose 4.7 per cent to 7.03 trillion won withoperating profit reaching 367.3 billion won from a 987.5billion won operating loss tallied in 2010.

* The builder said orders topped 13.27 trillion won lastyear, up 13.5 per cent from the 11.69 trillion won reported forthe previous year.

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Japan's Toridoll eyeing US$31mln consolidated net profit
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KOBE, Jan 27 Asia in Focus - Japan\'s TORIDOLL CORP.(TSE:3397) is expected to report that consolidated net profitsurged 60 per cent to a record of about 2.4 billion yen(US$31.01 million) in the nine months ended Dec. 31 on thestrong performance of its restaurants. Sales apparently grewslightly more than 20 per cent to about 45.4 billion yen,thanks in part to the opening of 94 restaurants, mainlyself-service udon noodle shops, at home and abroad. Same-storesales were likely higher than projected.

* Operating profit is believed to have jumped about 40 percent to 5.3 billion yen, while pretax profit likely climbedabout 40 per cent to 5.1 billion yen.

* The increased sales absorbed higher costs associated withlaunching new locations.

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Japan's Sky Perfect eyeing record pretax profit
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TOKYO, Jan 27 Asia in Focus - Japanese satellite televisionbroadcaster SKY PERFECT JSAT HOLDINGS INC. (TSE:9412) isexpected to report a record-high pretax profit for the ninemonths ended December, helped by the changeover to digitalterrestrial broadcasting. Group pretax profit apparently surged90 per cent from a year earlier to around 14 billion yen(US$180.91 million).

* Japanese rushed to buy TVs equipped with digital tuners toprepare for the changeover to digital broadcasting last July.These TVs can pick up the company\'s SKY PerfecTV! e2 service.

* Subscribers to the service surged by about 240,000 fromthe end of March; while overall, April-December salesapparently rose about 9 per cent to around 115 billion yen.

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Japan's Sekisui House eyeing US$904mln group operating profit
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OSAKA, Jan 27 Asia in Focus - SEKISUI HOUSE LTD.\'s (1928)group operating profit will likely rise 24 per cent to about 70billion yen (US$904.54 million) for the year ending Tuesday,beating the previous forecast of 68 billion yen. Profitabilityhas improved in its mainstay single-family home business due tohigher sales of environmentally friendly houses.

* In its rental housing business, new properties withenhanced soundproof features have seen robust demand.

* Sales are expected to narrowly beat the previouslyprojected 1.52 trillion yen, rising by more than 2 per cent.

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Japan's nonferrous metal cos to be hit by TEPCO price hike: Assn
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TOKYO, Jan 27 Asia in Focus - TOKYO ELECTRIC POWER CO.\'s(TSE:9501) rate increase represents a significant burden for thenonferrous-metals industry, warned Nobumasa Kemori, chairman ofthe Japan Mining Industry Association. "We are not convincedabout the hike," said Kemori, who is also president of SUMITOMOMETAL MINING CO. (TSE:5713), indicating the association willseek an explanation of how it was calculated and otherdetails.

* Tepco plans to raise corporate power rates by around 2.58yen per kilowatt-hour.

* Association members operate smelting and recyclingfacilities as well as electronic materials plants within areaspowered by Tepco.

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Japan's Nippon Shokubai expected to post 20% rise in pretax prof
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OSAKA, Jan 27 Asia in Focus - NIPPON SHOKUBAI CO.\'s(TSE:4114) consolidated pretax profit for the April-Decemberperiod is believed to have grown about 20 per cent to anall-time high of roughly 27 billion yen (US$348 million) onstrong sales of a material that absorbs liquid in diapers.Overall revenue likely rose 13 per cent to around 240 billionyen. Sales volume of superabsorbent polymers apparently climbedmore than 10 per cent, thanks to growing use of disposablediapers in Asian and other emerging markets.

* High prices for acrylates used to make paints andadhesives pushed up profits, offsetting sluggish operations inmaterials for LCD film and fuel cells.

* For the full fiscal year ending March 31, Nippon Shokubaiis expected to hit its earlier forecasts calling for salesgrowth of 11 per cent to 320 billion yen and a 7 per cent gainin pretax profit to 33 billion yen.

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Nippon Express expected to post US$323mln op profit
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TOKYO, Jan 27 Asia in Focus - Japan\'s NIPPON EXPRESS CO.(TSE:9062) likely generated a group operating profit of justover 25 billion yen (US$323.05 million) in the April-Decemberperiod, up a bit from the 24.9 billion yen of a year earlier.Sales are also believed to have come in slightly better thanthe year-earlier 1.21 trillion yen.

* The parent-only air cargo business fell on the year inAugust and September.

* But the trend reversed itself as Japanese companiesboosted air shipments of autoparts and other items to Thailandin an effort to rebuild their flood-disrupted supply chains.

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Japan's NEC Corp to cut more workers, narrow focus
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TOKYO, Jan 27 Asia in Focus - After cutting 20,000 jobs in2009 in what proved a futile push back against a worseningbusiness environment, NEC Corp. (TSE:6701) is getting ready toshed thousands more workers and narrow its focus. Theelectronics and computing giant said Thursday that it wouldeliminate about 5,000 full-time jobs and another 5,000outsourced jobs.

* The cuts will reduce outsourcing costs and enable NEC touse its workforce more effectively, according to the firm.

* President Nobuhiro Endo called the latest restructuring "apainful decision."

ASIA IN FOCUS nt