Kyocera profits from PV boom in Japan

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The sales for the full year increased by 7.5% to 1.28 trillion Yen (about €9.9 billion), but net profit declined by 16.2% to 66.47 billion Yen (about €514 million).

The increase in sales are justified by the increased demand for semiconductors and ceramics, as well as the booming Japanese PV market that is being driven by the new FITs. According to Kyocera, the solar division will thus be further developed. The demand for digital devices, which constitutes the main market for Kyocera, grew relatively slowly though, according to a statement released.

The reason why profits could not keep up with sales is mainly due to Kyocera's U.S. subsidiary AVX Corporation. The company had to pay 21.3 billion Yen (around €165 million) for environmental measures in New Bedford Harbor in Massachusetts. The company had released carcinogenic organochlorines (PCBs) into the river Acushnet at its production site between 1940 and 1970. The money is being channeled into the clean up and rehabilitation work under the U.S. Environment Protection Agency's "polluter pays principle".

Still the fourth quarter turned out better in 2013 compared to 2012. Kyocera reported a net profit of 21.5 billion Yen (€166 million) compared to 7.25 billion Yen the year before. Revenue for the quarter increased to 353.33 billion Yen (€2.7 billion) compared to 305.48 billion Yen in 2012.

Kyocera begins the new fiscal year with an optimistic outlook. A recovery course is being undertaken for the global production of digital devices from a moderate recovery in production levels in the areas of automotive and industrial machinery as well as continued growth in the Japanese solar market.

Therefore, the company expects a more successful fiscal year 2014 with an expected profit of about 96 billion Yen (€742 million) and revenues of 1.4 trillion Yen (€10.8 billion). The dividend will therefore be increased to around 40 to 160 Yen per share (approximately €1.24).

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