Japan Nonfinancial Firms' Jan.-March Capex Down 11.5 Pct

Tokyo, June 3 (Jiji Press)--Japanese nonfinancial companies'
combined capital expenditures for January-March fell 11.5 pct from a year before to 11,142.9 billion yen, down for the 12th straight quarter, the Ministry of Finance said Thursday.

The drop, which followed a 17.3 pct decline in the previous
quarter, came against the median forecast of a 9.5 pct fall among six major
economic research institutes.
The nonfinancial firms' combined recurring profits for the final
quarter of fiscal 2009 rose 163.8 pct to 11,256.5 billion yen, the ministry
said in a quarterly survey report.
Their sales expanded 10.6 pct to 344,133.1 billion yen.
All-industry capital expenditures, including those by financial
firms, fell 10.9 pct to 11,861.3 billion yen for January-March. Recurring
profits totaled 12,565.6 billion yen, up 945.4 pct.