Japan's ailing Sanyo Electric unveiled plans on Tuesday to invest 3.2 billion dollars in rechargeable batteries and other businesses as it reported a return to the black for the fiscal first half.
The planned investment is part of Sanyo's efforts to revitalise its struggling operations after three straight annual losses caused by fierce price competition in consumer electronics.
The company is increasing its focus on rechargeable batteries, which have been a bright spot in its otherwise lacklustre recent performance and are expected to enjoy brisk growth helped by demand from the auto industry. The company said that it planned to invest 350 billion yen over three years from April 2008 in its facilities, about 100 billion of which will be spent on expanding lithium-ion battery production capacity.
The company also reported a net profit of 15.98 billion yen (148 million dollars) for the six months to September, compared with a loss of 3.62 billion yen a year earlier, helped by the sale of shares in Sanyo Electric Credit.
Operating profit soared 50.3 percent to 23.81 billion yen, boosted by cost cuts and better sales in the digital camera and components businesses. But revenue slipped 0.4 percent to 1.09 trillion yen, hit by weak sales of mobile phones, white goods and other products.
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