OSAKA (Kyodo) Kyocera Corp. said its overall sales for the October-December period rose 9.3 percent from a year before to 319.2 billion yen on a consolidated basis, thanks to brisk sales of electronic devices and mobile phones.

Its group net profit for the third quarter of fiscal 2005 surged 76.4 percent to 25.7 billion yen, due mainly to cost-cutting efforts, including a personnel cut at a U.S. subsidiary.

"Parts demand for digital home electronic appliances continued to be strong," Kyocera President Makoto Kawamura said at a news conference held to release the latest quarterly results. "Demand is expected to remain firm in the first half of this year."

For the year to March 31, the company expects a group net profit of 73 billion yen on sales of 1.2 trillion yen, both unchanged from its initial projections.