The Wall Street Journal-20080213-Dentsu Operating Profit Falls 13-

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Dentsu Operating Profit Falls 13%

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TOKYO -- Dentsu Inc. posted a 13% decline in group operating profit for the April-to-December period as sluggish growth in advertising expenditures in the Japanese market took its toll.

Japan's largest advertising and marketing agency by sales had 36.43 billion yen ($340.8 million) in group operating profit, down from 41.62 billion yen a year earlier. Group net profit came to 21.03 billion yen. The company didn't issue net profit figures for the third quarter last year.

Revenue fell slightly to 1.51 trillion yen in the three quarters, from 1.55 trillion yen a year earlier.

Dentsu maintained its net income forecast for the fiscal year ending in March of 37 billion yen, with operating income of 63.84 billion yen driven by sales of 2.11 trillion yen.

In November, the company had cut its profit forecast for the 12 months ending in March, citing the poor outlook for ad spending in Japan. Dentsu reports earnings under Japanese accounting standards.