Toshiba half-year net profit surges 43%

[TOKYO] Toshiba said on Thursday its half-year net profit soared about 43 per cent from a year ago, largely owing to a weak yen and strong sales in its infrastructure business.

The company said it earned 30.8 billion yen (US$282 million) in the six months to September on sales of 3.11 trillion yen, up 3.6 per cent.

For the year to March next year, Toshiba left its forecasts unchanged, expecting a net profit of 120 billion yen on sales of 6.7 trillion yen.

"Although the PC (personal computer) business recorded restructuring expenses of 20.0 billion yen....the energy and infrastructure and community solutions segments recorded higher operating income," Toshiba said in a statement.

A sharply weaker yen has helped major Japanese exporters by making them more competitive overseas and inflating repatriated profits.

Toshiba is involved in a range of businesses from power generation, transmission systems and medical equipment to computer chips and laptops.

Despite the upbeat results, the company pointed to weakness in its TV and consumer goods businesses.

"The visual products business, which includes LCD TVs, saw sales decrease...and the white goods business saw lower sales because of a decrease in sales of residential air-conditioners affected by weather instability in Japan this summer," it said.

AFP