Osaka, Japan — Lower sales of digital still cameras, LCD projectors and VCRs counteracted improving sales of telephones and televisions at the Sanyo Electric AV/information and communication equipment segment during the company’s fiscal third quarter, pulling segment sales down 8.1 percent to $2.5 billion from $2.7 billion.
Third-quarter operating income for the AV/information and communication segment, mainly consumer electronics products, was cut nearly in half as TV prices dropped, down 40.4 percent to $82.2 million from a year-earlier $137.9 million.
Sanyo’s battery business, however, jumped 14.5 percent in the third quarter, ended Dec. 31, hitting $964.1 million, compared with $842.1 million in the same three months in 2003. Battery segment operating revenue in the three months decreased 17.8 percent to $63.5 million from $77.3 million year-on-year.
Sales of telephones in the third quarter rose 3.8 percent to $941 million, and televisions 9.7 percent, to $361.4 million. Sales of digital cameras in the same three months decreased 25 percent to $467.8 million; LCD projectors nearly 7 percent, to $155.1 million; and VCRs, 18 percent, to $60.3 million.
For the nine months, A/V segment sales rose nearly 1 percent to $7.3 billion from a year-ago $7.2 billion. Operating income for the period was off 23 percent to $260 million from $337.6 million.
Battery sales for the nine months rose 10 percent to $2.7 billion from $2.4 billion. Operating income for batteries in the nine months dropped 22 percent to $157.2 million from $201.7 million.
In Sanyo CE products for the nine months, telephone sales increased 5.5 percent to $2.8 billion; and television 7.7 percent, to $873.5 million. Digital camera were off nearly 3 percent, to $1.5 billion; LCD projectors, down 1 percent, to $448.3 million; and VCRs, off nearly 5 percent, to $206.2 million.
Consolidated Sanyo sales in the third quarter decreased 5 percent to $6 billion from $6.3 billion, while operating income declined nearly 65 percent to $100 million from $280.8 million.
For the nine months, Sanyo consolidated sales moved upward nearly 8 percent to $18.2 billion from $18.1 billion, while operating income dropped nearly 34 percent to $476.3 million from $719.5 million.
