Toshiba's 9-month profit surges 6 fold

Japan's Toshiba said on Thursday net profit in the nine months to December soared six fold to 54.52 billion yen ($600 million) thanks to brisk sales in its semiconductor and power plant businesses. For the April-December period, the firm also posted an operating profit of 98.3 billion yen, up 12.1 percent year on year, on sales of 4.04 trillion yen, down 7.1 percent as troubles in its television unit weighed. "Even though we saw declines in profit in the digital products segment and home appliances segment, a record profit in the social infrastructure segment (including power plants)" boosted results, Toshiba said. "Our business in thermal power generation plants went very well, as well as our nuclear plant business abroad," it added. Japanese companies involved in atomic power have been increasingly looking overseas as demand has dried up at home following the 2011 disaster at Fukushima. On Thursday, Toshiba also said strength in the "high value-added semiconductor products" division helped boost its bottom line. The technology and engineering conglomerate kept its profit forecast for the fiscal year to March unchanged at 110 billion yen, on sales of 6.1 trillion yen. Electronics manufacturers worldwide are struggling to profit from making televisions as they face fierce competition in the overcrowded, low-margin market.