Kyocera has yen for sales boost after profit warning

Japanese conglomerate Kyocera has become the latest company to issue a profit warning after it revealed that its first half and full-year profits are likely to be down.

The company, which is the world?s largest manufacturer of ceramic packages for integrated circuits, blamed the warning on a fall in sales of these devices combined with the strong yen.

Kyocera had forecast sales of Y270 billion in the first half of the year, but has revised that figure down to Y255 billion. Profit for this period is now expected to be 27 per cent below its original figure of Y49 billion. Net income in the first six months will be 24 per cent below the Y25 billion expected in May at Y19 billion.

For the full year, Kyocera marked down its annual results, forecasting that sales will amount to Y245 billion with recurring profits of Y96.9 billion. Net profit is expected to hit Y47 billion.

The company stated that the revised forecasts were also a product of higher R&D costs during the first half of the year and a drop in sales of about six per cent.

Kyocera insisted that despite its revised earnings forecast, it was developing more products, such as mobile phones, which the company hopes will compensate for the sales slump in its full-year financials.