Showa Denko Enjoys Record Sales and Profits in 2007

Showa Denko announced its full-year accounts for 2007 on Thursday. The firm enjoyed the record sale, operating profit, recurring profit and net profit. The consolidated net sale exceeded 1 trillion yen for the first time thanks to the favorable business conditions mainly for the petrochemicals division.The sales and profits remarkably increased in the petrochemicals and inorganics divisions. In the inorganics division, demand maintained steady from steel industry. The chemicals division also gained favorable sale and profit.In the aluminium division, the net sale was 257.811 billion yen through 2007, down by 0.9% from 2006, and the operating profit was 8.042 billion yen, up by 24.3%. The firm succeeded in price hike for some products though primary aluminium cost increased in 2007. The sales increase of high value products, such as high-purity aluminium foil for capacitors and aluminium cylinders for laser beam printers, also contributed to the higher profit.The electronics division posted net sale at 201.013 billion yen in 2007, up by 21.4% from 2006, and operating profit at 25.833 billion yen, down by 9.8%. The profit decreased due to the technology shift for hard discs to perpendicular magnetic recording.