Itochu Corp s upwardly revised net profit estimate of 820 billion yen for the current year is mostly due to surging commodity prices, its chief financial officer said on Thursday, an indication. | February 3, 2022
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TOKYO, Feb 5(Reuters) - Japanese trading houses are speeding up their efforts to shift away from coal and other fossil fuel assets amid a growing decarbonisation push worldwide and to match an ambitious pledge by government of becoming a carbon neutral by 2050.
The move comes as the trading houses are re-thinking their long-term strategies around upstream investment, Wood Mackenzie Asia Pacific Vice Chair Gavin Thompson, said in a recent note.
“If 2020 was a year for the re-evaluation of future plans, then 2021 looks to be the year of implementation,” he said.
For example, Itochu said on Thursday it will offload its stake in a Colombian coal mine, shedding 80% of its thermal coal assets, and will sell the remaining stake in two Australian mines “as soon as possible.”
By Reuters Staff
(Recasts with sale of coal asset, earnings and CFO comments)
TOKYO, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Japanese trading house Itochu Corp said on Thursday it has booked an one-off loss of 88.6 billion yen ($843 million) in the April-December period from a sale of its stake in a coal mine in Colombia to its partner Drummond.
The Japanese company flagged the sale last month when it unveiled a plan to exit the thermal coal business, selling its stakes in mines in Columbia and Australia by March 2024, to promote decarbonisation.
The 88.6 billion yen loss was only on a parent-company basis, which excludes its subsidiaries, and was not reflected in the group’s consolidated earnings.