TOKYO — TDK is expected to report an operating profit of around 50 billion yen ($420 million) for the nine months ended Dec. 31, a 40% gain to the highest since the same period in 2010.
Sales grew an estimated 7% to nearly 800 billion yen. Asia continued to fuel sales, with its share of the total rising to roughly 70% from the year-earlier 68.4%. Demand was particularly strong among Chinese smartphone manufacturers for high-frequencyThe number of complete cycles or vibrations per unit of time. Rate of alternation in an AC current. Expressed in cycles per second or hertz (Hz). components that stabilize voltage and pull out necessary signals. Sales to smartphone makers in the U.S. were also robust.
The automotive business apparently recorded sales growth for capacitors used in engine-controlling equipment amid a global rise in auto output. The Japanese company also received more orders for smartphone and tablet batteries.
Streamlining efforts are paying off, with TDK having consolidated production bases and slashed procurement costs. Before the start of this fiscal year, it also withdrew from such money-losing operations as magnetic tape and Blu-ray businesses. These reorganization measures contributed to April-December performance. The nine-month operating margin came to a little more than 6%, improving from around 5% a year earlier.
TDK projected at the end of October that full-year operating profit will surgeA transient variation in the current and/or potential at a point in the circuit. 72% to 63 billion yen on sales growth of 7% to 1.05 trillion yen. Given the weak yen and solid sales of smartphone and automotive components this quarter, the company may beat its forecast for the year.
