Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Posts First-Half Loss

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal

reported a loss in the first half ended September. Nippon Steel posted a net loss of Y176.66 billion ($2.21 billion), versus a year-ago profit of Y48.78 billion. Its sales dropped 5.4% to Y1.918 trillion from Y2.028 trillion. Sumitomo Metal posted a net loss of Y133.85 billion, versus a year-ago loss of Y32.39 billion. Its sales rose 0.2% to Y693.60 billion from Y692.22 billion. For the second half ending March, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal projects a pretax profit of Y30 billion.