Mitsubishi Electric's First-Quarter Profit Rises 19%

By Pavel Alpeyev

July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Mitsubishi Electric Corp., a Japanese maker of consumer electronics, factory machinery and elevators, said fiscal first-quarter profit rose 19 percent, helped by sales of audio-visual products.

Net income increased to 55.3 billion yen ($512 million) in the three months ended June 30, from 46.5 billion yen a year earlier, Mitsubishi Electric said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange today. Sales gained 0.7 percent to 879 billion yen.

Mitsubishi Electric shares rose as much as 3.4 percent in Tokyo trading after the earnings announcement. The Tokyo-based company, which generates more than 30 percent of sales overseas, maintained its April forecast for full-year profit and revenue to be little changed because of worsening global economic conditions and rising raw material prices.

The stock gained 1.7 percent to 1,084 yen as of 1:39 p.m. on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The shares have lost 7.5 percent this year, compared with a 13 percent drop for the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average.

To contact the reporter on this story: Pavel Alpeyev in Tokyo at palpeyev@bloomberg.net.