Japan Inc. logs record 1st-half profit despite manufacturing woes

TOKYO -- Japan's publicly-traded companies logged record profits for the April-September half for the fourth year in a row, according to a Nikkei analysis, as a boost in the finance and transportation sectors offset the downturn among automakers and other manufacturers.

As of Tuesday, 1,074 companies that close their books in March had reported a combined net profit of around 27.2 trillion yen ($175 billion) for the first half. This amounted to a 15% increase on the year, the fastest growth for the period in three years.