Hitachi Ltd is poised to report a group operating profit of more than 100 billion yen for the October-December quarter on the back of expanding demand in emerging markets.
This would be an all-time high for an October-December term since the manufacturer started announcing quarterly earnings in 2001. It posted an operating profit of 66.3 billion yen in the same period a year ago.
Emerging markets drove Hitachi's earnings. For automobile-related operations, profits were robust at Hitachi Chemical Co. and other materials subsidiaries thanks to major customer Nissan Motor Co.'s brisk sales in China. Results were also rosy at Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. due to an across-the-board increase in emerging market sales of hydraulic excavators. Semiconductor-related products were a boost for manufacturing-equipment operations.
Japan's eco-point reward program helped push up sales of air conditioners, LCD televisions and other appliances. But the core information and telecommunications systems business likely saw weaker demand as major domestic information technology firms reined in investment.
In the January-March quarter, earnings at the social infrastructure business, which includes building of power generation facilities, are projected to swell on the back of emerging-market economies. For the year ending in March, Hitachi may beat its outlook for an operating profit of 410 billion yen.
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