The devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11 battered Japan Inc in the first three months of 2011, with companies seeing their profits slashed by a third, a survey showed today.
The results of the poll by the Nikkei daily highlight the huge economic impact of the earthquake and tsunami and resulting nuclear plant crisis, which led to power cuts and the closure of factories, battering production.
It also comes a day after official data showed Japan's industrial production slumped 15.3% from February to March, the sharpest drop since records began in 1953, because of the disasters.
The survey of 544 listed firms found that their collective net profit fell 32% in the January-March period, the first decline in six quarters. However, it also said profits for the year to the end of March were higher year on year thanks to strong gains from April to December. The report did not give full-year figures.
Financial institutions and start-ups were excluded from the survey, the Nikkei said.
A separate survey by the paper covering about 1,000 listed companies showed their aggregate extraordinary losses stemming from the natural disasters came to about 600 billion yen ($7.36 billion).
The newspaper estimated that the total impact of the earthquake and tsunami on all listed companies reached about $12.3 billion.
Many analysts expect corporate activity to pick up after the summer as reconstruction gets underway in the northeast of the country, although many business leaders kept cautious outlooks.
The Bank of Japan yesterday cut its growth forecast for this fiscal year to 0.6% from its earlier 1.6% projection, although it predicted a rebound next year as Japan rebuilds.
