Fujitsu sees operating profit dive

Fujitsu Ltd. said Thursday its April-September operating profit fell 13.2 percent from a year earlier to ¥43.93 billion, reflecting a sharp fall in prices of hard-disk drives and an increase in administrative and marketing costs.

The electronics company said hard-drive prices for notebook personal computers continued to fall "significantly," and administrative and marketing costs surged owing to expenses associated with the expansion of its European operations, as well as those for development of next-generation products.

For the six-month period on a consolidated basis, Fujitsu said it incurred ¥9.34 billion in net loss, in contrast with its year-earlier profit of ¥14.85 billion. The company said the loss stems from accounting changes, and if there had been no such change, Fujitsu could have posted ¥7.6 billion in net profit, still about half of its year-earlier profit level.

Sales rose 6.4 percent to a record ¥2.51 trillion, thanks partly to its healthy system integration and mobile phone operations in Japan, as well as strong demand for optical transmission systems overseas.