TDK climbs back into black on higher sales, restructuring.

TOKYO, May 7 Kyodo

Electronic components maker TDK Corp. said Wednesday it swung back into the black in fiscal 2002 thanks to increased sales and continued efforts to reform its profit structure.

TDK reported a consolidated net profit of 12.02 billion yen for the fiscal year ended March 31, a turnaround from a loss of 25.77 billion yen the previous year.

Compiling consolidated results in compliance with U.S. accounting standards, the Tokyo-based company registered a pretax profit of 18.08 billion yen, compared with the previous year's loss of 43.70 billion yen, on a 6.7% increase in group sales to 608.88 billion yen.

TDK saw a 9.2% rise in sales of electronic parts to 472.53 billion yen due largely to a pickup in its share of the market for hard disk drive (HDD) heads as well as increases in digitization of audiovisual equipment and use of electronic components in automobiles.

Net profit per share stood at 90.56 yen against a loss of 193.91 yen the previous year.

TDK said it will pay a full-year dividend of 50 yen per share for the just-ended fiscal year, unchanged from the previous year. The amount includes an interim dividend of 25 yen.

For fiscal 2003 through next March, TDK forecasts consolidated net and pretax profits of 30 billion yen and 42 billion yen, respectively, on group sales of 635 billion yen.

The company expects to raise its full-year dividend to 55 yen per share for the current fiscal year.