Japanese heavy machinery maker IHI said on Monday it would sell property in Tokyo to Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co, posting an extraordinary gain of 77 billion yen ($710 million) this business year.

The sale is already factored into earnings projections announced in late September, when the company slashed its outlook to forecast an operating loss on problems in its energy plant division and said it might revise even lower. IHI, which has changed its name from Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries, has delayed its first-half earnings announcement until Dec. 14 from its original date of Nov. 5 due to an audit.

In September, IHI said it expected an operating loss of 17 billion yen for the year to end-March compared with an earlier forecast of a 40 billion yen profit.

It said the worst may not be over as it reassesses planned cost cuts relating to long-term large-scale plant projects, adding that the operating loss could widen to as much as 45 billion yen.

(Reporting by Edwina Gibbs; editing by Malcolm Whittaker)

Japan