Shipbuilder warns of profit fall

Shipbuilder Sumitomo Heavy Industries says its group net profit for the year ended March 31 will fall because of poor sales by the parent company and subsidiaries. With the result yet to be finalised, Japanese media report that the result will drop 16 per cent from 1996/97 to about five billion yen (about HK$300.78 million). The company had previously forecast a 52 per cent rise to nine billion yen.