In the three months ending December 31, 2003, the Tokyo, Japan-based company made a net profit of JPY 7.65bn ($71.93m) compared to a year-ago loss of JPY 24.9bn ($234.18m), on revenue that grew 4.97% to JPY 1,068bn ($10.04bn).

The largest chunk of Fujitsu’s revenue came from the Software and Services operation (41%), where sales grew 3.9% to JPY 436bn ($4.08bn). The division’s Solutions and Systems Integration arm increased sales 6.7% to JPY 181.6bn ($1.7bn), and sales from Infrastructure Services grew 2% to JPY 245.5bn ($2.38bn).

Software and Services revenue from Japan grew 8.5% to JPY 307.8bn ($2.88bn), but sales from overseas, including the former ICL operation, fell 5.7% to JPY 128.3bn ($1.2bn), which it blamed in part on the impact of currency conversion and the sale of several European operations. Following recent major contract wins with the UK government, the company said that strengthening its North American operation is now a priority. The division’s operating profit fell 55% to JPY 7.66bn ($71m).

Revenue from the Platforms division grew 5.9% to JPY 373.8bn ($3.49bn), which was driven by a 25.1% growth in revenue from servers to JPY 84.6bn ($791m). The company said it had enjoyed strong sales of Unix servers and storage systems in Japan, as well as a rise in demand for financial terminals to accommodate new bank notes. The division reported a small operating profit of JPY 115m ($1m).

Sales in the Electronic Devices group increased 22.2% to JPY 191.2bn ($1.79bn), with revenue from semiconductors growing 19.5% to JPY 104bn ($972m). The only part of this unit to register a fall in revenue was PCs and mobile telephones, where sales dropped 4.5% to JPY 152.2bn ($1.42bn), and the company said it has suffered from growing pricing pressure in the PC market during the third quarter.

Looking ahead, the company said it expects group net profit in the year ending March 31, 2004 to reach JPY 30bn ($280m), on revenue expected to grow 2.9% to JPY 150bn ($14bn).

This article is based on material originally published by ComputerWire