Mizuho swings to $2.6B profit on economic recovery

TOKYO (AP) - Mizuho Financial Group, Japan's No. 2 bank, posted a 239.4 billion yen ($2.6 billion) profit for the year through March, returning to the black and beating its forecast.

Like other Japanese banks, Mizuho's results have gradually improved along with the global economy. Although Japan's banks were not as directly exposed to the bad debts at the root of the financial crisis, they also suffered.

Separately, Mizuho said it would issue new shares to raise up to 800 billion yen ($8.6 billion) over the next year.

The company released a business plan for the next three fiscal years through March 2013. Mizuho aims to over double its net profit during the period to 500 billion yen ($5.4 billion), reassign employees to strategic areas such as sales and Asian customer centers, and cut costs.

The financial group also said it was going to replace several key members of its top management, including group chairman Terunobu Maeda and the heads of two main banking units.

For the just-ended fiscal year, Mizuho said it returned to profit as income from its securities companies, Mizuho Securities and Mizuho Investors Securities, was boosted by a merger with Shinko Securities. The bank also cut credit costs and booked a profit from stock sales.

Its annual profit for the latest fiscal year compared with a 588.81 billion yen ($6.3 billion) loss in the previous year. The company didn't provide quarterly figures.

The swing in profit came despite falling revenues, which were down 20 percent year-on-year to 2.82 trillion yen ($30.3 billion).

Mizuho shares ended unchanged Friday in Tokyo at 165 yen before the earnings announcement.