JAPAN

Steep Real Estate Losses: Japan’s three biggest real estate companies reported sharp declines in profits in the year ended March, 1994, and said they expected earnings to continue falling. Mitsubishi Estate Co. said its current profit fell 32.9% to $456 million in 1993-94 from a year earlier and forecast a 26.2% decline in profit for 1994-95. Mitsui Fudosan Co. Ltd. said it posted profit of $158 million for 1993-94, down 36.2% from a year earlier. It forecast a 27% decline in profit in 1994-95 from 1993-94. Sumitomo Realty & Development Co. said its profit fell 21.6% to $89.7 million in 1993-94 from a year earlier and expected a 19.6% decline in 1994-95 profit. Until recently, weak demand for new offices, competition and oversupply had forced realtors to offer discounted rents because many of them are stuck with projects planned in the “bubble economy” days of the late 1980s, analysts said.