Major Japanese travel agency H.I.S. has logged its biggest net loss for a first half of its business year. Company officials say the coronavirus pandemic kept many consumers at home during the period.

The group net loss for the six months from November came to 26.9 billion yen, or 200 million dollars.

Officials mainly blame a slow recovery in international travel, its mainstay business.

The group also has an electricity-retail business. That was hit hard by a sudden surge in natural-gas prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

H.I.S. has refrained from issuing an earnings forecast for its full business year through October. Officials say predicting demand for overseas travel amid the rapid weakening of the yen would be difficult.