01
Nov
2006
RTE Business: Japan’s Pioneer said yesterday that it had swung back to the black in the three months to September amid a restructuring drive but warned of risks ahead due to a battle to set the standard in next-generation DVDs.
The Japanese audio and visual equipment maker said it made a net profit of 3.5 billion yen (€24m) in the second quarter, reversing a major loss of 52.7 billion yen the same time last year.
Revenue grew 4.9% to 188.6 billion yen year-on-year in the three months ‘mainly due to higher sales of plasma displays and car navigation systems and the weaker yen’.
Pioneer also trimmed losses due to restructuring. Last year it ousted its president and began slashing 2,600 jobs, or nearly 8% of its workforce, in response to its massive losses.
But the company said it suffered a drop in sales of DVD recorders in the second quarter and warned of dangers ahead. Pioneer said its future earnings could be hurt by potential ‘failure of the Blu-ray Disc, a next-generation optical disc format we have adopted, with the view to gaining broader market acceptance’.
Pioneer has joined Sony and other electronics makers in promoting Blu-ray, which is going head to head with the HD DVD, supported by companies led by Toshiba.
For the first half of the year to the end of September, Pioneer posted net profit of 9.2 billion yen, compared with a loss of 58 billion yen a year earlier.
Operating profit for the first half came to 11.7 billion yen compared with a 16.7 billion yen loss a year earlier. Revenue rose 12.2% to 380.3 billion yen in the latest period.