Toshiba Fiscal Third Quarter CE/PC Sales Dip 2%
By Jeff Malester -- TWICE, 2/11/2002
TOKYO— Toshiba's Digital Media segment, which includes consumer electronics and personal computers, had a 2 percent decline in sales for the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, reaching $2.8 billion, down from $2.9 billion in the year-ago third quarter.
Toshiba said sales of PCs fell in both the domestic and overseas markets, while sales of A/V products increased.
The company narrowed its operating loss in the digital media segment in the third quarter, hitting $22.1 million, down from $32.9 million in the same quarter in 2000.
Sales to North America edged up 2 percent in the third quarter, reaching $1.57 billion, or 17 percent of Toshiba's net sales. This compares with $1.55 billion in the same quarter in 2000, or 15 percent of the company's net sales.
For the nine months, sales to North America dipped 5 percent, hitting $4.4 billion, or 16 percent of overall net sales. This compares with $4.7 billion in the same nine months in 2000, when this region accounted for 15 percent of net sales.
The U.S. economic downturn and a further slowdown in demand for IT-related product continued to haunt Toshiba in the third quarter, which saw consolidated net sales decline 13 percent to $9.2 billion, down from $10.6 billion in the year-ago period.
The pattern of price erosion and decreased sales impacted on profit during the third quarter, reducing operating income to $528 million.
Toshiba has revised down its consolidated October 2001 earnings and sales forecast for fiscal 2001, ending in March 2002. The company now expects a net loss of $1.97 billion for the 12 months, up from a net loss forecast of $1.5 billion. Sales for the 12 months are now forecast at $40.6 billion, compared with $41.4 billion in the earlier prediction. In the previous fiscal year, Toshiba had net income of $728.8 million on sales of $45.1 billion.
