Fujitsu Posts Sharp Rise in First-Half Net Profit
October 30, 2000 (TOKYO) -- Fujitsu Ltd. on Oct. 25 announced its interim financial results for the first half of fiscal 2000 (April to September 2000), with its profit rising sharply.
On a consolidated basis, Fujitsu reported net sales of 2,490,570 million yen, up 1.9 percent over the same half-year period in fiscal 1999. Operating profit increased to 100,287 million yen, up 57.6 percent over the comparable period, and pretax profit increased to 65,047 million yen, for an increase of 193.1 percent. (108.32 yen = US$1)
Fujitsu significantly boosted its profitability by implementing recovery measures, cutting its operating costs across the whole corporate group and raising operating profit above 100 billion yen. Also, the company benefited from lower foreign exchange losses.
Its net profit for the first half of fiscal 2000 reached 17,239 million yen, increasing by a factor of 7.3 over the same period in fiscal 1999. However, its net profit reached only 0.7 percent of net sales.
"We're still only a step on the way to a full recovery," said executive vice president Takashi Takaya.
On an unconsolidated basis, Fujitsu's net sales for the half year amounted to 1,513,281 million yen, up 4.5 percent over the same half-year period in fiscal 1999. Operating profit fell 12.3 percent to 25,669 million yen, and pretax profit increased by 263.4 percent to 28,361 million yen. Its net profit reached 74,111 million yen, up 899.7 percent over the comparable year-earlier period, the company said.
Its operating profit declined because of the low profit margins in the consumer market for personal computers, where demand was strong. On the other hand, the lower foreign exchange losses substantially boosted both pretax profit and net profit, contributing to Fujitsu's improved profit performance.
Looking at the consolidated results by business segment, net sales in the services and software segment were 928,058 million yen, down 1.7 percent from the same period in fiscal 1999. According to Fujitsu, the slow pace of recovery in corporate IT spending in the United States and Europe affected sales in this segment.
Also, sales declined in the information-processing segment, falling by 9.8 percent to 812,579 million yen. Fujitsu attributes the decline to reactions in the information-systems segment (finance and distribution industries) after corporate customers brought forward their orders and paid for new systems in fiscal 1999 in readiness for the Y2K problem. A further factor was fewer customer orders than expected for systems to handle new coins and bills.
In the telecommunications segment, net sales increased by 7.3 percent over the first half of fiscal 1999, reaching 376,472 million yen. However, operating profit was only 2,561 million yen, a decline of 79.5 percent from the same period in the previous year.
Fujitsu's electronic devices segment was buoyed by surging demand for flash memory and logic ICs, with sales increasing 34.1 percent to 429,867 million yen. Operating profit went from the red and into the black, reaching 56,594 million yen.
By geographic area, Fujitsu achieved favorable results in Japan, mainly in the semiconductor market. Domestic sales increased 8.1 percent over the same period in fiscal 1999, reaching 2,052,658 million yen.
Its sales in the United States increased 10.8 percent to 350,508 million yen, and operating profit reached 2,623 million yen, recovering from a loss in the same period in fiscal 1999. In Europe, Fujitsu's affiliate ICL Plc. is still operating in the red.
(BizTech News Dept.) |
