The main reasons are the increase in the prices of raw materials, as well as the closure of factories located in China, due to the appearance of new coronavirus outbreaks in the country.
The business performance of about 4,500 companies listed on financial markets in Japan, the United States, Europe and China worsened in the second quarter of this year when their net profits decreased by 849,300 million dollars, 7%, informs the Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei.
This means the first drop in earnings for companies, which represent around 80% of the market capitalization, in 7 quarters, since the third quarter of 2020. Among the main reasons is the increase in the prices of raw materials, as well as the closure of factories located in China, due to the appearance of new outbreaks of coronavirus in the country.
The main manufacturers of automobiles (29%), electronic products (18%), and household appliances ( 4%) experienced a drop in their profits between April and June of this year.
However, despite the fact that there was a decrease in profits compared to the same period of the previous year, Nikkei considers that the level of company income is still high, since it exceeded 40% compared to the second quarter of 2019, that is, before the pandemic. For the period of July-September of this year, it is forecast that the most important companies in the world will have an increase of 12% in their profits.
