Mitsubishi Electric reported a sales and operating income gain in its third fiscal quarter, largely due to increased activity within its Industrial Automation Systems business.
The Japanese maker of factory equipment and home appliances said demand for flat-panel displays and machinery used in the Asian automotive markets drove a 21% year-over-year revenue increase in the automation group. The group makes PLCs, motion controllers, servos, inverters, circuit breakers, and human machine interface (HMI) displays. Sales in the automation business totaled 240 billion yen ($2.9 billion) for the third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2010, compared to 199 billion yen ($2.4 billion) in the same period last year. Operating income climbed to 36.9 billion yen in the quarter from 18.3 billion in Q3 2010.
Consolidated sales for the company’s five business segments increased 14% year-over-year to 889.5 billion yen, while operating income climbed steeply from 38.6 billion yen in last year’s Q3 to 79.6 billion yen this quarter, the company said.
Mitsubishi, like other automation vendors, is benefitting from the gradual recovery of the global economy, despite escalating material prices and the yen’s appreciation against other currencies.