Operating profit for the three months to end-December totalled 26.8 billion yen ($183.06 million), versus 177.1 billion yen estimated on average by eight analysts surveyed by LSEG.

A year earlier, the company earned 112.5 billion yen in profit.

($1 = 146.4000 yen)

(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)