Mitsubishi CE Segment Sales Rise 13% For 6 Mo.

TOKYO— With a growing DVD-related equipment business in the forefront, sales in the home appliances segment at Mitsubishi Electric, which includes consumer electronics products, increased 13 percent in the company's fiscal first half, to $4.3 billion from $4 billion.

At the same time, the consumer electronics segment improved its operating income, to $174.2 million from $90.4 million in the first half of last year.

Sales in Mitsubishi's information and communications systems segment, which includes mobile handset revenue, dropped 19 percent, down to $2.5 billion from $3.1 billion year-on-year.

The operating loss in the handset segment widened in the first half, ended Sept. 30, nearly tripling to $91.8 million from a loss of $32.2 million in the first six months a year earlier.

Sales to North America in the first half, ended Sept. 30, decreased 5 percent, down to $1 billion from $1.1 billion. Operating income in North America was lower, down to $9.2 million from $11.4 million.

Even though the business environment saw the impact of rising crude oil prices and other factors in the fiscal first half, Mitsubishi said in a statement that it “as a whole was sound, with continued solid performance of production and capital investment in Japan, and the benefits of a continuing solid global economic recovery centering in the United States and East Asia.”

Consolidated net sales in the first half at Mitsubishi rose 3 percent to $15.1 billion from a year-on-year $14.7 billion. Consolidated net income for the six months improved to $178.5 million from $35.7 million.