Tokyo — Pioneer Electronics said it had a 1.1 percent decline to $1.8 billion in net revenue for its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2006, but operating income increased 3.4 percent year on year to $42.3 million and the company cited improved gross margin for the growth.
Net income was up 73.6 percent from the previous quarter, to $20.5 million.
Home electronics sales were down 1.7 percent year on year to $949.5 million, with plasma display sales down about 10 percent due mainly to a substantial drop in OEM sales, according to the company. Plasma sales made up 48 percent of home electronics sales in the quarter.
Operating income in the home electronics segment was $22.6 million compared with a loss of $14.2 million in the previous year’s quarter. Pioneer cited improved gross profit margin for plasma displays due to business restructuring measures.
In car electronics, sales were up 1.2 percent to $717.6 million, attributed to strong sales of car navigation systems partially offsetting a substantial sales decrease in car audio. Operating income in the category slipped 33.8 percent to $26.7 million.
In other news, Pioneer is delaying the construction of a new plasma display panel manufacturing facility in Japan “in light of the results of the 2006 year-end sales season,” according to a release.
