By Takashi Mochizuki
TOKYO--The U.S. subsidiary of Japanese camera and
medical-equipment maker Olympus Corp. said Friday it is under
investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for possible
violations of anti-kickback and false claims laws, and that any
settlement could weigh on the company's earnings ahead.
Olympus Corporation of the Americas has been under investigation
since November 2011 for possible violations of laws that normally
apply to inappropriately encouraging medical professionals and
institutions to buy goods and services, the Japanese parent company
said in a statement.
"Depending on how the matter progresses and other factors, our
consolidated results of operation may be materially adversely
affected," the statement said.
An Olympus spokeswoman said the company entered into discussion
with the U.S. authorities in the October-December quarter, and
since the investigation was ongoing, it couldn't say anything
beyond what was provided in the news release.
She said no information on financial damages that might incur
from the investigation was available. Nor was there an estimate on
how long the discussion with the U.S. government would take.
"We can't say this would really affect our upcoming financial
results, and even if it does, we don't know when we would feel the
impact."
On Friday, Olympus reported a Yen31.93 billion ($273 million)
net profit for the April-December period, up from Yen5.84 billion a
year earlier, as the medical and scientific-research equipment
business performed well.
Earnings were also helped by a weaker yen, which makes Japanese
products more price competitive abroad and increases the value of
profits returned to Japan. The company had Yen550.02 billion in
revenue during the nine-month period, up from Yen513.67
billion,
For the full-year ending March, Olympus forecasts a Yen45
billion net profit, an Yen88.0 billion operating profit and Yen760
billion revenue. This doesn't take into account any fallout from
the current investigation, however.
Write to Takashi Mochizuki at takashi.mochizuki@wsj.com
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