TOKYO, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Japan's largest department store operator, Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings (3099.T), posted a first-half operating loss and trimmed its annual sales target on Monday 9 November amid a weak outlook for the ailing industry.

Mitsukoshi, of the Isetan Mitsukoshi group

"We don't think it's possible to see recovery (in sales) for a while," Kunio Ishizuka, president of the company created by the merger of two rival chains last year, told a news conference.

Japanese department stores have been among the worst hit by a slump in the world's second-largest economy as cost-conscious consumers cut back on spending or turn instead to cheaper specialty stores such as budget fashion chain Uniqlo (9983.T).

The company reported an operating loss of 425 million yen ($4.7 million) for the six months ended in September, down from 11.2 billion yen in profit a year earlier. Revenues slumped 12.5 percent to 617.1 billion yen.

For the full year to next March, the company cut its sales outlook by 0.7 percent to 1.3 trillion yen, a 9 percent fall from the year earlier. It kept its operating profit forecast at 2 billion yen, counting on cost cuts to make up for weak demand.

The company said it would further slash costs with the aim of boosting operating profit to 20 billion yen in the year to March 2013, though that is effectively a downward revision compared with an earlier target of 50 billion yen in the year to March 2012.

"It's a downward revision. But given the current situation, it was too difficult," Ishizuka said. ($1=89.98 Yen) (Reporting by Taiga Uranaka; Editing by Michael Watson)