Advantest Corp. said in a statement its group net profit came in at 2.5 billion yen (23 million dollars) for the six months, reversing a 3.8 billion yen net loss for the same period last year.

The company, affiliated with computer maker Fujitsu, reported a pre-tax profit of 3.7 billion yen against a pre-tax loss of 6.7 billion yen a year earlier. Sales jumped 51.5 percent to 62.3 billion yen.

"Demand from customers for our products remains strong. A boost in sales raised our net profit," Toshio Maruyama, president and chief operating officer, told a news conference.

Despite the recent rise of the yen against the dollar, the company said there was no adverse impact on its results.

"We were able to offset currency risks because we had a large amount of dollar payments for materials we bought in the United States, hence almost no currency risk," Maruyama said.

In theory the high yen makes Japanese products more expensive overseas and trims dollar-denominated income when converted into yen.

For the year to March 2004, Advantest raised its forecast for net profit to 9.0 billion yen from 7.5 billion, current profit to 14.5 billion yen from 7.5 billion yen and sales to 145 billion yen from 140 billion.

Meanwhile, Fanuc Ltd. -- the world's largest maker of automated systems for manufacturing -- said its net group profit for the six months to September rose 33.1 percent to 26.1 billion yen.

Fanuc's interim sales rose 25.4 percent year on year to 124.7 billion yen, with pre-tax profit surging 35.0 percent to 43.7 billion yen.

"Demand from Japanese manufacturers was particularly strong and there is no sign of a major downturn in demand," said Shinichi Tanzawa, senior managing director of Fanuc.

"We are also seeing major expansion in the customer base in Europe," he said.

For the year to March 2004, Fanuc forecast a net profit of 49 billion yen, pre-tax profit of 83 billion yen and operating profit of 78 billion yen on sales of 257 billion yen in line with the previous estimate.

SPACE.WIRE