Asics Corp. raised its guidance for the first half of fiscal 2008,
which ends Sept. 30. The company expects first half net sales to
increase 13.7% to ¥108.5 billion ($910.3 mm) from ¥95.4 billion ($828.1
mm) in the year-ago half and up from earlier guidance of ¥108.0 billion
($906.1 mm). On the bottom line, Asics expects net income of ¥8.4
billion ($70.5 mm), growing 19.8% from last year’s ¥7.0 billion ($60.9
mm) and up from earlier guidance of ¥7.8 billion ($65.4 mm).

Comparing the H1 guidance with the company’s first quarter result shows
a strong second quarter showing as Q2 sales are expected to grow 18.2%
to ¥51.7 billion ($438.6 mm) from ¥43.7 billion ($376.5 mm) in the
year-ago quarter. Net income will jump 59.1% to ¥2.2 billion ($18.8
mm), up from ¥1.4 billion ($12.0 mm) last year.