(Kyodo News International via NewsEdge) Toshiba reported a group net profit of 38.83 billion yen ($332 million) for the first half of fiscal 2006, up 165.1% from a year earlier, buoyed by strong sales of semiconductors and other electronic devices.
In the April-September period, the company had a group operating profit of 65.15 billion yen ($557 million), up 26.8%, on sales of 3.16 trillion yen ($27 billion).
Of the total sales, those from overseas accounted for 51%, the first time ever it has exceeded domestic sales, helped by stronger demand for its products in other Asian countries, the company said.
Toshiba, Japan's No. 2 electronics conglomerate after Hitachi, said all its business segments increased their sales.
Operating profits in its electronic devices, social infrastructure and home appliances segments all gained during the first-half period, but its digital products segment suffered a loss of 7.6 billion yen ($65 million), hit by declines in sales of mobile phones.
Despite a fall in global prices of flash memories, the Tokyo-based company's electronic device segment was bullish, posting sales of 737.37 billion yen ($6.3 billion), up 12.8% from the previous 1st half.
For the whole of fiscal 2006, Toshiba now expects a group net profit of 110 billion yen ($940 million), up from its projection of 90 billion yen ($769 million) made in April.
© Kyodo News International
© 2006 Dialog, a Thomson business. All rights reserved