The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant said Wednesday it swung to a net profit in the quarter to June after a government bailout and electricity rate hike.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it posted a net profit of 437.9 billion yen in the April-June period, reversing a 288.3 billion yen loss in the same quarter a year earlier.
TEPCO was effectively nationalised a year ago with a huge injection of government money to keep it afloat. In the quarter alone, the company received 666.2 billion yen from Tokyo.
The company faces massive compensation and clean-up costs after the Fukushima nuclear disaster two years ago.
During the quarter, TEPCO said sales climbed to 1.44 trillion yen, up from 1.31 trillion yen, mainly owing to a government-approved electricity rate hike.
It still posted a pre-tax loss of 29.49 billion yen, down from 124.27 billion yen a year earlier.
© (C) 2013 AFP
29 Comments
Login to comment
Crazedinjapan
So what pockets is this money going to line ?? Still people who are owed property and relocation plus the festering sore of Fukushima that keeps growing that could use a huge injection of this surplus.
Yubaru
So if these figures are accurate then.....
They should be returning every yen of profit back to the national government in repayment for the "loan" of taxpayers (MY) yen and then next will be the remaining balance.
The shareholders will just have to wait in line. In my opinion TEPCO should not be showing ANY so-called profits until all compensation is paid, AND the cleanup of Fukushima is 100% complete.
If their executives receive bonuses because of this so-called "profit", heads should be rolling.
SauloJpn
"If their executives receive bonuses because of this so-called "profit", heads should be rolling."
The problem here is that they stopped paying bonuses to TEPCO executives, it has been in the news numerous times!
queensNY
So why do they keep on raising rates? Why aren't they paying all the victims of Fukushima? Why are skimping on decontamination and clean up? Why? Because they're corrupt and criminal.
Mirai Hayashi
Great...now they can pay the tax payers back right?...
Cricky
Unbelievable , causing the biggest, worst disaster ever , sucking tax payers money?Yet still making a profit. Corruption at the highest level. Get out if you can, there is no future here.
Citizen2012
Everybody can make profit when sucking tax payer money to cover your running operations and rule on a monopoly business model for your income, nothing to be proud of first. Now lower the rate and payback the tax payer.
tmarie
So when are there payments for the loan going to start?? TEPCO and the government, just shocking that the public allows this joke to continue.
Dennis Bauer
How much of this money will go to fukushima?
NZ2011
I'll be looking forward to a refund of my electricity charges, and portion of tax that have been funded this companies on going operation..... Oh wait for some reason in the modern world, and not just in Japan, massive companies are allowed to operate with care but no real responsibility, take loans from public money, increase rates and more or less operate above the law.
Imagine what would happen to me as individual if I did any of the things Tepco has, I would be in jail, probably for life..
CrazyJoe
Bunch of scroungers. Fukushima will never return to the state before 311.
plasticmonkey
That money would buy about 14,500 permanent homes for the displaced (figuring a cost of ¥30,000,000 per home).
That's not going to happen though, is it. Simply too muzukashii.
Spanki
What a scam! TEPCOs assets should have been sold off and the people who lost their homes and livelihoods bailed out instead. It amazes me that the Japanese people let TEPCO and their elected government continue to get away with this.
smithinjapan
I'm pretty sure if humanity survives a few hundred years down the road we'll all be shaking our heads and wondering how on earth a company like TEPCO could happen. There will likely still be politicians shrugging and saying "it can't be helped", but still.
TEPCO should never be allowed to make ANY profits until they've paid off what they owe in compensation and have gotten their act together as a whole -- neither of which will ever happen.
Disillusioned
How can a bankrupt company turn over a profit? Their 400 billion yen profit should be used to pay back the tax payers money. Or, it should at least be used to get the displaced residents compensated and back into real housing. Or, how about dropping the price of electricity. This company should never be allowed to turn over a profit and keep it!
nsv
TEPCO now should speed up the clearing of claims.
Magnet
How is this possible? Aren't there still billions of dollars worth of compensation payouts to be made? The corruption of this company knows no bounds.
TokyoTanuki
What does 'effectively nationalized' mean?
Eitehr the tax payer now owns TEPCO, i.e. the government bought it out with tis bailout, or they were given Loans by the government.. which is it?
gogogo
Tepco should not be allowed to make a profit, all that money should be given back to the tax payers and or people in Fukushima that ARE STILL LIVING in temp housing
Yubaru
Read what I wrote again please. I KNOW this, but you may notice that is PAST TENSE and I wrote IF they receive any bonuses, (as this is the bonus season NOW) and since they showed a "so-called" profit. Things change quickly and may not be reported to or by the press either.
It is not always public or common knowledge, they are not public officials and there is no requirement to publish how much if any bonus was or would be paid.
They only stopped paying bonuses BEFORE because of public outrage, but that does not guarantee that it will be permanent.
randomman
As much as I hate TEPCO and the people who run the company the title is misleading to those who don't understand the detailed figures. They are still running a pre-tax loss of 29 billion yen so their business is still losing money even after the rate hikes The Government bailout money for the nuclear power plant disaster of 666 billion yen puts their net p&l positive. People should be more concerned with the rising cost of imported carbon fuel which cannot be offset without nuclear energy over the next decades, like it or not.
Citizen2012
If you look carefully to their last 2 years fiscal report so from 3/11 to now (available at their website), you'll see that TEPCO did manage to continue to grow their TOTAL ASSETS, which does speak volume.
yugodabe
Increases in profit for the shareholders, the question is who are he share holders? And below, I want to know what other assets they have that are not declared to the public. I thought TEPCO had no money and was going bankrupt, they have something tucked away by the looks of it.
Since 2000 they have made $400 Billion + with their ventures, TTNET, not sure how much was made since they bought 5% stake in Japanetbanking in the year 2002. Japanetbanking, Its stakeholders, including parent company Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and NTT DoCoMo (provider of i-mode), were all big companies from different industry sectors. This stakeholder base gave JNB market exposure and access to their established customer bases. By April 2001 JNB had 130,000 customers. It aimed at winning one million accounts and ¥1 trillion deposits by 2002.
The Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (TEPCO, www.tepco.co.jp, 5% stake in Japan Internet banking) Tokyo Electric Power was the world’s largest private electric power company, serving 26 million customers in Japan’s Kanto area, including Tokyo. To diversify its operations as deregulation opened up part of the market to other electric suppliers, by 2001 TEPCO was moving into telephony and Internet services. It owned a major stake in Tokyo Telecommunication Network (TTNet), which provided local and long-distance phone services, and had partnered with nine other Japanese electric power companies to create PNJ Communications, a potential rival to NTT. TEPCO’s revenues in the fiscal year ending 31 March, 2000, stood at more than US$40 billion.
scoobydoo
Sure you got that right?, That is a very very very high dose rate.
miyaguchatabi
This is great news! A rising tide lifts all ships, and the recovery is happening apace. The people in Tohoku must have felt a heartful cheer when they heard this news.