Tokyo — Sales in the digital products segment at Toshiba, mainly CE products, climbed 6 percent in the company’s fiscal first quarter, hitting $4.6 billion, up from $4.3 billion. The increase was due to higher sales of hard disk drives and mobile phones, and increased sales of PCs in overseas markets.
Operating income in the digital products segment came in at $5.7 million for the first quarter, ended June 30, compared with an operating loss of $94.3 million the previous year. The “significant” improvement against the earlier-year period was a result of improved performance and return to profit for the PC business, said Toshiba.
The company’s electronic devices segment reported first-quarter sales of $2.7 billion, down 11 percent from the $2.9 billion recorded in the same quarter a year earlier. Operating income for the segment decreased to $95.2 million from a year-earlier $345.1 million. The segment’s drop in sales and profit was attributed largely to decreased sales of LCD displays for PCs and lower price for flash-memory chips for digital cameras and mobile phones, despite a slowdown in price erosion since the beginning of the year.
Sales to North America in the first quarter jumped 7 percent, reaching $1.5 billion, up from a year-ago $1.4 billion. Operating income in North America climbed 29 percent, hitting $5.4 million, up from $4.2 million in the same quarter last year.
Consolidated Toshiba sales for the first quarter increased 4 percent, reaching $11.7 billion, up from $11.1 billion in the same three months the previous year. Continued economic expansion in the United States helped the company increase its sales, said Toshiba.
Consolidated operating figures, hampered by selective product price erosion, dipped to a negative $16.7 million, down from operating income of $125.5 million in the first quarter last year. The company recorded a net loss of $80.4 million for the period, compared with a net loss of $69.4 million year-over-year, due mainly to slowing sales of flat-screen displays and declining prices of computer chips.
