Softbank annual profit quadruples on mobile unit
(Adds share price)
TOKYO May 8 (Reuters) - Softbank Corp. (9984.T) said on Tuesday annual profit more than quadrupled thanks to its acquisition of Vodafone's (VOD.L) Japan unit and its efforts to shave costs and launch new price plans to lure subscribers.
Since acquiring Vodafone Japan in April 2006, Softbank has slashed prices and refreshed the brand to grab subscribers from rivals NTT DoCoMo Inc. (9437.T) and KDDI Corp. (9433.T) as well as personal handy-phone operator Willcom Inc., owned by the Carlyle Group [CYL.UL].
Burdened with some $12 billion of debt from the Vodafone deal, Softbank has introduced a new handset sales method that spares it from huge incentive costs paid to retailers, and has cut salaries at the wireless unit to squeeze expenses.
But Softbank's 16 percent share of Japan's 96.7 million mobile subscriber market still stands far behind DoCoMo's dominant 54 percent. KDDI, which has added the most users in the past year, has raised its share to 29 percent.
Softbank's operating profit was 271.07 billion yen ($2.26 billion) in the year ended March 31, up from 62.3 billion yen a year earlier, the Japanese Internet and telecoms conglomerate said. The result topped market expectations of 263.1 billion yen based on the forecasts of 13 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.
Softbank, which does not provide earnings forecasts, is expected to post an operating profit of 316.9 billion yen for the year started April, according to analysts.
Tokyo-based Softbank is also Japan's second-biggest provider of high-speed Internet services after Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (9432.T), and is the parent company of Yahoo Japan Corp. (4689.T). Softbank shares, traded heavily by retail investors, have lost 8 percent in the last three months, while DoCoMo gained 8.9 percent and KDDI jumped 13 percent in the same period.
Shares in Softbank closed down 1.1 percent at 2,700 yen before the company announced its earnings.
((Reporting by Aiko Wakao, editing by Jean Yoon;
Reuters messaging: aiko.wakao.reuters.com@reuters.net;
aiko.wakao@reuters.com; Tel:+81-3-3432-8595))
($1=119.82 Yen) Keywords: SOFTBANK RESULTS/
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