Credit Saison falls into red due to paper loss on Seibu shares.

TOKYO, May 22 Kyodo

Credit Saison Co. said Thursday it posted a group net loss of 6.03 billion yen for the business year ended March 31 against a profit of 18.23 billion yen the previous year, marking its first red ink on a consolidated basis.

The consumer credit firm attributed the deterioration mainly to a heavy extraordinary loss connected to the bailout of its group firm Seibu Department Stores Ltd.

It said it booked an appraisal loss of 38.99 billion yen on its Seibu share holdings and loan-loss charges of 18.96 billion yen as a result of its group's debt waiver to Seibu under the department store operator's rehabilitation plan.

In its consolidated earnings report, Credit Saison posted a pretax profit of 51.00 billion yen, down 14.6% from the previous year, with revenues down 1.2% to 212.24 billion yen.

The company said its core credit card business performed briskly, but the credit cost rose as the number of individual bankruptcies grew at a record-high pace amid the extended economic slump.

The company will pay a full-year dividend of 18 yen per share, with no interim dividend paid. In the previous year, it paid the same full-year dividend.

For the year to March 31, 2004, Credit Saison forecasts a net profit of 26 billion yen and a pretax profit of 54 billion yen on revenues of 223 billion yen.