SoftBank Group Corp. said Monday its net profit surged more than four-fold to a record 1.88 trillion yen ($18 billion) in the April-September period from a year earlier thanks to large-scale asset sales aimed at improving its financial position.

The 346.7 percent jump, a turnaround from a 49.8 percent fall a year earlier, came after it posted huge losses from poor investments in We Co., operator of U.S. shared workspace provider WeWork, in the fiscal year that ended in March.

In the six months to September, the Japanese investment conglomerate said sales totaled 2.63 trillion yen, up 3.6 percent, with its investment returns standing at 2.03 trillion yen.

Its investment funds, including the nearly $100 billionVision Fund, logged a profit of 1.34 trillion yen, thanks to a sharp recovery in stock markets around the world since the coronavirus-driven sell-off earlier in the year, the company said.

SoftBank Group did not provide earnings on an operating basis or give a full-year forecast.

SoftBank has compiled a 5.6 trillion yen war chest as of the end of September after selling up to 4.5 trillion yen worth of assets including a large part of its stake in T-Mobile U.S. Inc. and a 5 percent stake in its Japanese subsidiary wireless carrier SoftBank Corp.

In addition, the parent company announced in September its plan to sell its entire stake in British chip designer Arm Ltd. to U.S. semiconductor maker Nvidia Corp. for up to $40 billion, expecting to complete the sale by around March 2022.

SoftBank Group acquired Arm in 2016 for $31 billion.

In fiscal 2019 ended in March, the Japanese firm posted a record net loss of 961.58 billion yen for its first red ink in 15 years.

==Kyodo

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