Toshiba Posts 68.7 Percent Jump in Q1 Net Profit on Strong Sales in Japan

Toshiba said Thursday its first-quarter net
profit climbed 68.7 percent due to brisk
sales in infrastructure business and PCs in
Japan.
In the three-month period to June, Toshiba
posted a net profit of 8.9 billion yen ($87
million), a 68.7 percent jump from a year
earlier.
Operating profit surged 57.1 percent to 39.5
billion yen on sales of 1.41 trillion yen, up
2.7 percent.
Toshiba is involved in a range of businesses
from power generation, transmission
systems and medical equipment to computer
chips and laptops.
For the year to March next year, Toshiba
said it expected a net profit of 120 billion
yen on sales of 6.7 trillion yen.
"The energy and infrastructure segment saw
overall sales increase, reflecting higher sales
in the nuclear power systems business in
Japan, and in the thermal and hydro power
systems, electric power distribution systems,
solar photovoltaic systems and railroad
systems business," it said in a statement.
"The PC business improved significantly,
recording higher operating income," it said,
noting that demand driven by the end of
support service for the Windows XP
operating system contributed to increase in
sales.
Toshiba's visual products business also saw
an improvement "due to the effects of
restructuring, higher sales prices and a shift
in focus to redefined sales territories," it
said.
But the company's electronics devices
business saw a slight decline in operating
profit due to intense pricing competition in
the market, it said.
The company will keep efforts to reform the
visual products business, with plans to
halve sales sites worldwide from 24 to 12
by the end of September 2015 saving an
estimated 10 billion yen it said.
"This move will also reduce the visual
products business's global workforce by
about 25 percent, or about 300 people,
excluding the manufacturing operation
which has already reduced its headcount," a
company spokesman said.
The company will focus on super high-
definition 4K TVs in Japan and the rapidly
growing emerging markets, it said.