Company gross operating profits, in current prices, fell 7.2 per cent in the March quarter, as the economic downturn took its toll.
The seasonally adjusted figures were up 6.9 per cent over the year-earlier quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said today.
The median market forecast was for gross operating profits to fall by 4.5 per cent in the March quarter.
Estimated business inventories, in seasonally adjusted chain volume terms, fell 1.2 per cent in the March quarter after falling 1.5 per cent in the previous quarter.
The March quarter result was 1.1 per cent lower than a year ago.
Economists were expecting inventories to have declined by 1.4 per cent in the March quarter.
The estimate of income from sales by manufacturers in the March quarter, in seasonally adjusted chain volume measures, was down 2.8 per cent.
Estimated income from sales by wholesalers in the March quarter in adjusted chain volumes measures was flat.
AAP
