Three of the nation's major electronics firms posted mixed business results for the first half of the 1997 business year through September 30.
Despite sluggish sales of air conditioners and television sets, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. reported strong profit gains for the April-September period, with its pretax profit rising 28 percent to 67.6 billion yen. Supported by brisk sales of digital video cameras and notebook personal computers, the overall sales revenue of the Osaka-based consumer electronics giant increased 6 percent to 2.4 trillion yen, the company said. Its operating profit rose 38 percent to 51.1 billion yen, it said.
Fujitsu Ltd.'s pretax profit in the same period rose 65 percent to 43.7 billion yen, supported by the company's strong exports of communication devices and increased semiconductor shipments, according to the major computer maker. Its sales revenue rose 13.8 percent to 1.52 trillion yen, while its operating profit rose 140 percent to 51.56 billion yen, the company said. The company also reported that its consolidated pretax profit rose 16.2 percent to 51.5 billion yen. The consolidated sales revenue of Fujitsu and its 452 subsidiaries rose 15.3 percent to 2.26 trillion yen. The group's consolidated operating profit was 99 billion yen, up 54 percent.
On the other hand, Mitsubishi Electric Corp.'s pretax profit dropped 79.2 percent to 5 billion yen in the April-September period compared with the same period the previous year, due to the continued fall in prices for semiconductors and household appliances, the company said. Its sales revenue rose 5.8 percent to 1.35 trillion yen, while its operating profit grew 47.5 percent to 12.52 billion yen.