TOKYO-Kyocera Corp. said a writedown in its U.S. unit contributed to the fall in its first-half profit. The company, however, recorded a net profit of $145 million for the first six months ended Sept. 30 in contrast to $158 million in the same period last year.
The company said the result was not far below its estimates, because it had issued a warning earlier of its diminished profit.
Kyocera’s president said the company expects its U.S. mobile-phone division to be profitable during the next half year between October 2003 and March 2004. The unit has suffered losses since it was purchased from Qualcomm Inc.
Sales for the half year were $4.78 billion, up 0.3 percent. The company said shipment delays of mobile phones also contributed to its dip in profits.
The company recently faced worries over exploding phones and halted shipments of the models in question, but restarted sales following a week-long investigation into the issue. The company denies its phones exploded. In addition, Kyocera faces a lawsuit from its former technology partner Wildseed Ltd. Wildseed is suing for breach of contract following Kyocera’s decision not to build its planned Kurv phone, which featured Wildseed’s Smart Skins software.
