from yesterday's Nikkei

上場企業　今期経常益８％減　在庫調整やリストラ　下期は回復見込む

According to a The Nihon Keizai Shimbun's compilation data on the 2010 March term businesses' settlements of accounts results,it has been learned that consolidated recurring profits of listed companies in the business term through the end of March this year are a 8.1% down on average from the previous term.Smaller demand than before continuing due to the worldwide recession,a total of sales of listed companies declined 1.3% ,with export-dependent and material-related companies most heavily hit.
However,with inventory adjustment and other restructuring efforts going on, it is likely that business performance of such companies, as a whole, will improve gradually in the latter half of this term.

参考：今日は各所にふつうは使いそうにない表現を使ってみた。あまり勧められたものではないが、どこまでが許容されるかなどもあり、たまには気持ちの赴くままの英語もいいかも知らないと思った。とくに最初のaccording からの出だしの表現は一般には勧められない。

from today's Nikkei

セブン＆アイ　コンビニＰＢ世界展開　３万６０００店で　原料を一括調達　３年で売上高１兆円をめざす

Seven &i Holdings Co.,Ltd. will start to market the so-called private-brand products extensively in its all outlets scattered worlwide.It will develop the products centering on those sold at its convenience stores called "SEVEN ELEVEN," the number of which are about 36,000 in total in the world. Specifically,it will purchase materials for foods and others in a package deal and committ productions to other firms in order to reduce the costs. Thus with 20-30% lower prices than those of the conventional products,it intends to enhance its sales of private-brand products to 1 trillion yen in around 3 years.