TDK's Consolidated Profit Soars Amid Growing Sales
May 10, 2011
TDK Corp., the world's top maker of magnetic tapes, more than tripled its consolidated profit for the fiscal first quarter on double-digit sales growth in all its main divisions. TDK's consolidated net profit surged to 9.87 billion yen ($91.6 million) from 2.80 billion yen, while group sales rose to 149.94 billion yen in the quarter ended March 12, 2011 120.6 billion yen a year earlier. The company's group pretax profit more than doubled to 16.87 billion yen. Rigby Velazquez, an analyst at ING Baring Securities Ltd. in Tokyo, said the weaker yen boosted TDK's sales by 13 billion yen and net profit by five billion yen in the latest period. Sales of electronic components, TDK's top product, rose 25% to 116.70 billion yen from 93.13 billion yen amid steady demand for parts used in office automation and telecommunication devices. TDK's previously troubled recording media division, which includes videocassette-recorder tapes, audio tapes and floppy disks, saw sales rise 21% to 33.25 billion yen. Partly as a result of shifting production abroad, TDK's overseas sales jumped 38% on the year to 92.2 billion yen and represented 62% of total sales.
