Chipmaker Infineon posted its first profit in 10 quarters today but disappointed the market with an outlook that was not as optimistic as some investors had hoped.
Shares in Infineon, Europe's second-biggest chipmaker, shed more than 3 per cent of their value in early trade, after the company said it was confident it would continue to generate positive earnings if an upswing in the industry was sustained.
Infineon attributed its improved earnings to higher productivity, rising prices for its memory chips - which constitute 40 per cent of its business - and a profit from the sale of its remaining stake in Taiwanese joint venture ProMOS Technologies.
It posted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of €67 million ($77 million) for its fourth quarter to the end of September. That compared with an EBIT loss of €116 million for the previous quarter and an EBIT loss of €295 million for the fourth quarter of 2002.
Infineon made a net profit of €49 million in the latest quarter, compared with a loss of €116 million in its third quarter and a loss of €506 million in the fourth quarter of last year.
Sales for the quarter beat expectations, rising 37 per cent year-on-year to €1.76 billion.
But Infineon said it could not predict the financial impact of anti-trust investigations and legal actions against it in the United States and set aside a €28 million provision for them in the last quarter.