Japan's SoftBank Group books first annual profit in four years

Japan's SoftBank Group reported its first annual profit in four years on Tuesday, likely bringing relief to investors scarred by high-profile failures as it embarks on another series of mammoth tech investments.

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The Tokyo-based conglomerate reported a 1.15 trillion yen ($7.78 billion) profit for the year ended March versus a loss of 227.6 billion yen a year earlier.

The figure was boosted by the 517 billion yen booked for January-March - more than double that earned in the same period a year earlier - on strong performance from telecommunications holdings and higher valuations in its later-stage startups.

The turnaround illustrates the risk and reward of SoftBank’s approach of investing in high-growth technology companies, epitomised by the success of its investment in Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba Group and bankruptcy of US office-space startup WeWork.