Japanese Internet and telecoms giant Softbank said on May 09 that its net profit for the year to March doubled from a year earlier, thanks to strong demand for the iPhone it distributes in the country. Softbank, Japan's third-largest mobile carrier by number of subscribers, said its net profit was up to 189.71 billion yen ($2.35 billion) from 96.72 billion yen.
Operating profit rose 35 percent to 629.16 billion yen and revenue rose 8.7 percent to 3.005 trillion yen. "In addition to a healthy increase in subscriber numbers, the company also saw larger average revenue per user and more shipments of mobile phone units, all contributing to profit expansion," the company said in a statement.
Softbank, whose business also includes Internet services, is the only local carrier of Apple's hugely popular iPhone, helping it to win new customers in Japan's saturated mobile phone market. For the final quarter to March, its net profit rose to 47.41 billion yen, from 1.85 billion yen a year earlier.
The company's operating profit for the quarter rose 48 percent to 147 billion yen from 99.55 billion yen a year earlier, while revenue rose 5 percent to 754.74 billion yen from 718.10 billion yen.
Separately, Softbank announced that it has invested $62.5 million into Gilt Groupe Inc, the operator of US online shopping service "Gilt".
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