Hoya Corp, the world“s top producer of semiconductor mask blanks and Japan“s largest maker of eyeglasses, said 28 January 2008 that net profit for its fiscal 3Q to December 2007 rose 13% from a year…
Hoya Corp, the world“s top producer of semiconductor mask blanks and Japan“s largest maker of eyeglasses, said 28 January 2008 that net profit for its fiscal 3Q to December 2007 rose 13% from a year earlier thanks to strong sales at its vision care and healthcare divisions. The company said the consolidation of Pentax Corp in 2007 also supported profit growth, helping offset slow sales of its photomasks and mask blanks. Photomasks are pattern masters used to copy electronic circuit patterns onto silicon wafers, from which semiconductors are made. A photomask is called a mask blank before a circuit pattern is etched onto it. Hoya posted net profit of JPY 22.60 billion in the 3Q 2007, up from JPY 19.96 billion a year earlier. Operating profit grew 1.1% to JPY 27.52 billion. Revenue increased 48.6% to JPY 147.05 billion. In a bid to seek more growth opportunities in a difficult operating environment in the flat panel business, Hoya Corp bought more than 90% of Pentax Corp in 2007, acquiring the Japanese maker of optical equipment and digital cameras through a friendly takeover bid. Pentax generated operating profit of JPY 1.5 billion for the 3Q 2007. Hoya“s vision care business, which includes contact lens and glasses, logged operating profit of JPY 5.4 billion, up 7.8% from a year earlier, while its healthcare division reported operating profit of JPY 2.6 billion, up 25.4%. But Hoya“s core electro-optical equipment division, which makes mask blanks, photomasks and glass disks for HDDs (hard disk drives), posted operating profit of JPY 18.7 billion, down 9.6% due to falling prices of photomasks and mask blanks. The company is forecasting a full-year to March 2008 net profit of JPY 80 billion, down 4.1% from a year earlier; operating profit of JPY 101.1 billion, down 5.7%; and revenue of JPY 489.7 billion, up 25.5%.