Nihon Seiko Enjoys Favorable Profits for Antimony Products in 1H

Japanese antimony products maker, Nihon Seiko announced on Thursday the firm posted 422 million yen of consolidated recurring profit in first half of fiscal 2006 ending March 2007, which increased by 21.1% from the same period of fiscal 2005. The consolidated net sales increased by 41.9% to 4.285 billion yen and the net profit by 27.5% to 167 million yen. The firm enjoyed favorable sales and profits for both of antimony products segment and atomized metal powders segment.In the antimony products segment, the sales increased for low-grade antimony trioxide in 1H of fiscal 2006, which is produced at the OEM maker in China, and the export volume for Southeast Asia increased to 2.8 times from 1H of fiscal 2005. Domestic sales of sodium antimonate increased by 8.9% in volume. Price hike advanced as well due to surge of antimony metal price in 1H.In the atomized metal powders segment, the sales volume decreased by about 3% for fine powder applied to electronic parts in 1H of fiscal 2006 from a year ago due to productive adjustment of electronic products. The sales value increased largely reflecting surge of material metal prices, while the operating profit increased by only 4.9% due to expansion of cost price.