Toshiba H1 profit surges, raises f'cast

TOKYO, Oct 31: Toshiba Corp said on Tuesday its first-half net profit more than doubled on gains in its semiconductor and power businesses, and raised its full-year profit forecast by 22 percent.

Toshiba, Japan's second-largest electronics conglomerate after Hitachi Ltd., raised its annual profit forecast to 110 billion yen (6.9 million), above a consensus estimate of 95.6 billion yen from 18 analysts polled by Reuters.

Toshiba has ramped up spending as it focuses resources in two areas.

One is NAND flash memory chips, used in cellphones and digital music players and where Toshiba has No. 2 market share behind South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

The other is its nuclear power business, where Toshiba has acquired Westinghouse, the U.S. power plant unit of British Nuclear Fuels, taking a bigger-than-expected 77 percent stake.

For the six months ended Sept. 30, the company earned a net profit of 38.83 billion yen, in line with analyst estimates, after the company raised its first-half forecast earlier this month. The result compared with a profit of 14.65 billion yen a year ago.

Toshiba shares rose 12 percent in the April to September period, while the Tokyo market's electrical machinery index fell 4.38 percent.

Prior to the earnings announcement, its shares closed down 0.4 percent at 740 yen, while the electrical machinery index rose 0.22 percent.

REUTERS