Kenwood Corp. said Friday that it chalked up its first return to profitability in four years and a record group net profit.
The struggling audio equipment maker said cost-cutting measures, allied to brisk overseas sales of car audio systems, helped the firm turn around its fortunes.
Kenwood had sought a capital injection from lenders last year in order to drag it out of a negative asset value scenario.
Group net profit stood at 4.22 billion yen, following a loss of 26.66 billion yen logged a year ago.
Meanwhile, sales dropped 25.5 percent to 225.58 billion yen, due to the termination of the firm's mobile phone handset business and the consolidation of its home electronics unit.
During fiscal 2002, the firm reduced its workforce by 45 percent to 4,855, sold plants in China and Mexico and closed a production facility in Hungary.
Meanwhile, strong demand for its car electronics products in overseas markets, especially in Europe and the U.S., led the growth.
The firm expects group net profit to post a near three-fold rise in fiscal 2003, thanks to strong overseas sales of car electronics equipment as well as its home theater system.