Infineon back in the black in first quarter

nice to hear tat joc & richard's company is in the black again.

Monday January 29, 9:16 PM

Infineon, the German semi-conductors giant, says it finally returned to profit in the three months to December after seven consecutive quarters of losses, thanks largely to its Qimonda memory chip unit.

Infineon, which runs its business year from October to September, said in a statement it booked net profit of 120 million euros (155 million dollars) in the first quarter to December.

The company had booked net loss of 36 million euros in the preceding three months and net loss of 183 million euros a year earlier.

In the semi-conductors sector, where prices a highly volatile, analysts attach more importance to a quarter-on-quarter comparison in earnings.

Underlying profit, as measured by earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose to 216 million euros in the October-December period from 30 million euros in the preceding three months.
Sales were down seven percent quarter-on-quarter at 2.131 billion euros.

Infineon said that the positive development in first-quarter earnings was largely due to its memory chip unit Qimonda, without which it would have booked operating loss of nine million euros in October-December.

Infineon floated 14 percent of Qimonda on the New York Stock Exchange in August.