Bridgestone expects 2004 profits to be down 17 percent

Tokyo--Bridgestone Corp reportedly expects consolidated full-year pre-tax profits for the 12 months to December 2004, to be down about 17 percent (¥150 000 million or €1000 million). The company is reported to have said the fall could be attributed to higher prices of raw materials.

The company reportedly said sales would be up 4 percent to around ¥2.5 million million, thanks to higher sales in Asia and especially China.

The article, which did not identify any source, said Bridgestone, "sees no choice but to accept price hike requests from materials manufacturers, which are expected to erode profit by 60 billion yen."

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Bloomberg (US) story

Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Japan) story (May require a subscription to the Nikkei-online)