Nippon Telegraph & Telephone, Japan's biggest telecommunications company, reported that its group net profit for the April-June quarter edged up 3.4% thanks to a lower tax burden resulting from a subsidiary's share buyback, an Associated Press report said.
The Associated Press report said net profit increased to 149.57 billion yen ($1.26 billion) from 144.68 billion yen ($1.24 billion) the same period a year earlier, according to the Tokyo-based company.
NTT said a share buyback by its mobile phone unit, NTT DoCoMo, reduced the group's tax burden in the form of declined deferred tax liabilities at the mobile telecommunications unit.
The company's group revenue slipped 1.5% to 2.585 trillion yen ($21.8 billion) from 2.624 trillion yen ($22 billion), with increased revenue from broadband Internet access services and its system integration business unable to make up for declined income from the fixed-line business, the report said.
Group operating profit sagged 17% to 299.23 billion yen ($2.52 billion) from 359.18 billion yen ($3.03 billion) due, the company said, to higher marketing and other operational costs in the mobile phone and system integration businesses, the report added.
NTT left unchanged its earnings outlook for the fiscal year through March. The company projects a group net profit of 460 billion yen ($3.87 billion) on revenues of 10.700 trillion yen ($90.1 billion).