Better Japan Major Electric Wire Makers’ Quarterly Results than Bottom

Japanese major 5 electric wire makers posted operating loss for April-June while Fujikura posted operating profit. The 6 makers’ results were better than January-March but the improvement depends on their products mix when the demand is firm for optical cable and electronic parts while the demand is still slow for building and automobile. The 5 makers expect operating loss for the half year to September while Fujikura expects half year operating profit.

Sumitomo Electric Industries posted 8.6 billion yen of operating loss for automobile business unit in April-June, which was lower than 17.8 billion yen of loss in January-March. The automotive wiring harness sales increased to 114.7 billion yen in April-June from 47.1 billion yen in January-March but the sales was 55% of same period of 2008.

Furukawa Electric posted operating loss at 5 billion yen for light metal unit, 3.7 billion yen for rolled copper unit and 1.6 billion yen for automotive parts and electronics unit in April-June. The telecommunication unit posted 1.6 billion yen of operating profit due to firm export demand for optical fiber cable.

Fujikura’s communication unit posted 2.1 billion yen of operating profit in April-June, which was 24% higher than same period of 2008 due to firm demand for optical communication related products. The electronics and automotive parts business unit posted 1.1 billion yen of operating loss, which was lower than 4.8 billion yen of loss in January-March.

Hitachi Cable’s operating loss in April-June was around half of 7.7 billion yen of loss in January-March due to higher sales for tape automated bonding and copper strip. SWCC Showa Holdings posted 800 million yen of operating loss compared with 2.1 billion yen of loss in January-March. Mitsubishi Cable Industries posted 200 million yen of operating loss compared with 2.7 billion yen of loss in January-March.