Sanyo sees first profit in three years

Sanyo Electric Co. said Tuesday it posted a group net profit in the April-September period for the first time in three years, backed by cost-cutting efforts as well as strong sales of batteries and digital cameras.

In the first half of business 2007, the consumer electronics maker saw group net profit of ¥15.98 billion, a turnaround from a loss of ¥3.62 billion in the previous year, on sales of ¥1.09 trillion, down 0.4 percent.

Hit by poor sales of its household electrical appliances and accounting problems, Sanyo has been trying to rehabilitate its business in recent years through job cuts and withdrawing from money-losing operations.