The company said current profit rose to 8.436 billion yen ($75.32 million).

Writing off costs more slowly pushes current profits up.

On average, companies still have a market value that is considerably higher compared with their current profits than the historical average.

He said the company booked as current profits the fee income it would not receive for many years.

"Another way of saying honor your earlier obligations-don't just look at current profit."

The 300 companies that have reported earnings so far show an aggregate 52.6% decline in current profit.

Add to that figure 2 percent of the company's current $2.7 billion profit on tobacco, the extra earnings associated with industrywide gains through advertising.

And their chief executives spend too much time worrying about current profits and buying back stock.

They did so in anticipation of high future profits for technology companies even though their current profits were non-existent.

While there were start-up losses of less than $1 million in the first year, these will be recouped from current and future profits.