Infineon Profit Beats Forecasts

BERLIN—Shares in Infineon Technologies AG jumped Thursday after the German semiconductor maker reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter net profit and increased its dividend, due in part to the benefits of a recent acquisition.

The company also said that a key measure of adjusted operating profitability—known as a segment result margin—should rise slightly in fiscal 2016 to 16% from 15.5% the previous year. The maker of chips for cars and credit cards forecast that revenue would increase by between 11% and 15%.

By midmorning its shares were up by around 12%.

In the three months to the end September, net profit rose 80% to €325 million ($345.25 million), helped by a tax gain and rising earnings in most of its businesses. Analysts had expected net profit of €162 million on average. Revenue increased 36% to €1.60 billion, boosted by International Rectifier, which has been part of Infineon since January. Its segment result margin in the quarter rose to 17.9% from 16% in the same period last year.

Infineon proposed raising its dividend to €0.20 per share from €0.18.

Infineon executives said the company has become an active player in the consolidation of the semiconductor industry and that they would consider future mergers and acquisitions to expand the company. In a call with analysts, they declined to be more specific.

People familiar with the situation have told The Wall Street Journal that Infineon has expressed interest in investing in Renesas Electronics Corp. of Japan. Renesas has declined to comment.

Write to Friedrich Geiger at [e-mail]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 26, 2015 07:05 ET (12:05 GMT)

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