BERLIN (AP) — German semiconductor maker Infineon Technologies AG said Wednesday that improved growth and demand from automakers and chip card and security providers helped bring it back to profitability in the second quarter.
The company, based in Neubiberg, reported a net profit of €79 million ($105 million) in the January-March period compared with a loss of €258 million a year earlier.
Revenues rose 55 percent to just more than €1.03 billion in the company's second quarter compared with €669 million last year.
Infineon said the result was helped by a stronger-than-expected dollar that helped make its products more appealing to U.S. buyers, along with "further improved demand in the supply chain, as well as the end customers."
Chief Executive Peter Bauer said the performance was "not only the result of the general economic recovery" but the result of reining in costs with an eye toward gaining market share and improving ties with customers.
Infineon had embarked on ambitious cost cutting measures over the last several years that included job and capital spending reductions, as the market for computer chips waned in the downturn.
Looking ahead, he said Infineon believed that its "performance in the current environment is a clear signal of the direction we anticipate taking for the rest of this fiscal year."
To wit, Infineon said it expects revenue growth to be in excess of 30 percent, above the 20 percent it had initially forecast.
Despite the optimism, shares of Infineon were down nearly 2.1 percent to €5.15 in Frankfurt trading, amid a wider decline brought on by fears surrounding Greece's financial predicament and that the contagion could spread to Portugal.
