Tokyo – Increasing optical disc, videotape and tape-based data storage media sales boosted TDK’s dollar volume in its Recording Media and Systems segment at 2.1 percent in the company’s fiscal first quarter, to $254.5 million, up from $249.6 million in the year-ago first period.
TDK reported that audio tape sales fell as overall demand softened, but videotape sales rose slightly, helped by demand stemming from the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Optical disc sales increased in rising volume of mainstay CD-Rs – which offset falling prices – and increasing sales of DVDs.
Operating income in the Recording Media and Systems segment in the first quarter hit $3.9 million, compared with an operating loss of $13.6 million in the same quarter in 2001.
Pushed by higher sales in recording devices, as these regained market share, and higher sales in its recording media and systems segment, TDK enjoyed an 8.3 percent climb in sales to the Americas during its fiscal first quarter, reaching $243.3 million, up from $224.9 million in the year-ago first quarter.
The overall result was a 9.8 percent rise in overseas sales in the first three months, ended June 30, hitting $884.9 million, up from $806.9 million in the same three months in 2001. TDK’s overseas sales accounted for 71.4 percent of consolidated net sales in the first quarter, a 2.4 percentage point increase from the 69 percent registered in the previous year’s first three months.
Overall TDK sales in the first quarter increased 6 percent, to $1.24 billion, up from $1.17 billion in the same three months last year. Operating income in the same period soared 131.2 percent, to $49.9 million, compared with $21.6 million in the first quarter in 2001. Net income climbed 79 percent, to $18 million, up from $10.1 million year over year.
Looking ahead, TDK expects any economic recovery, particularly in the United States, to be tenuous, and any upturn in demand to be mild at best.
Regarding its earnings forecast, TDK does not expect any significant change from the projections announced last May. Net sales anticipated for the fiscal year, ending March 31, 2003, remain at $4.8 billion. Operating income expected for the fiscal 12 months stays at $166.8 million and net income remains at $108.4 million.
