Furukawa Electric Posts Less 1Q Profits for Telecom and Light Metal

Furukawa Electric posted less consolidated operating profits for the telecommunication business segment and the light metals business segment in April-June 2007 compared with the same period of 2006. In the telecom segment, US optical product subsidiary was suffered from worse sales and profits and domestic sales of high-speed router decreased from a year earlier. In the light metals segment, aluminium plate and aluminium can material sales were stagnant.Furukawa Electric’s total consolidated net sales increased by 13.1% to 282.1 billion yen in April-June 2007 from a year earlier, while operating profit decreased by 0.5% to 9.6 billion yen and recurring profit decreased by 0.8% to 8.9 billion yen.Telecom segment’s net sales downed by 3.8% to 38.3 billion yen and the operating profit downed by 5.4% to 900 million yen in April-June 2007 from a year ago. Sales and profits were favorable for optical fibers and cables. On the other hand, the sales decreased by 3.7 billion yen and the profit decreased by 1.9 billion yen for optical parts and equipments.Light metals segment’s sales upped by 5% to 63.3 billion yen while the operating profit downed by 7.9% to 3.5 billion yen in April-June 2007 from a year earlier. Aluminium plate sales declined for productive equipment for semiconductors and liquid crystal displays. Aluminium can material demand maintains low for 2 years in a row.The firm posted favorable sales and profits for the other 3 business segments, the energy & industrial product segment (electric cables and other industrial products), metals segment (copper alloyed products) and the electronics & automotive system segment (electronics and auto related products).