Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

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Kyocera 03/04 net profit up on components demand
Tuesday April 27, 3:05 am ET

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040427/tech_japan_kyocera_1.html

TOKYO, April 27 (Reuters) - Japan's Kyocera Corp (Tokyo:6971.T - News) said on Tuesday it posted higher net profit for 2003/04, buoyed by strong demand for electronic parts, and forecast a further rise in the current year to next March.

Group net profit at Kyocera, the world's largest maker of the ceramic casings that house microchips, totalled 68.09 billion yen ($626.7 million) in the year to March 31, compared with 41.17 billion yen a year earlier.

Sales grew 6.6 percent to 1.14 trillion yen.

Besides brisk sales of high-tech components such as capacitors, Kyocera's results were boosted by a turnaround at Kyocera Wireless Corp (KWC), the U.S. cellphone unit bought from Qualcomm Inc (NasdaqNM:QCOM - News) in 2000.

Capacitors are a key part used in mobile phones and other electronics products to regulate the flow of electricity. A typical cellphone contains about 200 capacitors, each as small as a grain of sand.

For the year to next March, Kyocera expects net profit to rise 25 percent to 85 billion yen, helped by a further recovery at KWC and healthy demand for components used in digital electronics products.

That would beat the market consensus of a 70.3 billion yen profit, according to a poll of 19 analysts by Reuters Research.

Prior to the announcement, shares in Kyocera closed trade down 1.3 percent at 9,430 yen, underperforming the Nikkei average (^N225 - News), which fell 0.98 percent.