Marubeni Earnings

Marubeni Corp said yesterday it had revised down its group net profit estimate for the year ended March 31 as a result of the Asian currency crisis. The Japanese trading house said in a statement it estimated a group net profit of around 17 billion yen for 1997-98, down from its November estimate of 30 billion yen. It posted a group net profit of 20.11 billion yen in the previous year. The Asian currency crisis resulted in currency losses for Marubeni group firms on their foreign currency-denominated borrowings, it said. Marubeni will announce its earnings results later this month.