Konica Minolta net profit r earlier to ¥55.71 billion in the nine months through December on brisk sales, the yen's weakness against the euro and cost-cutting.
Pretax profit in the first nine months of business 2007 jumped 23.8 percent to ¥86.43 billion on sales of ¥794.96 billion, up 6.8 percent.
Multifunctional color printers sold well along with triacetyl cellulose film for protection of liquid crystal polarizing plates as well as optical pickup lenses for next-generation DVD players, the company said.
Losses on the company's withdrawal from the photo imaging business also helped boost net profit by reducing tax, the company said.
Konica Minolta stands by its earlier earnings estimates announced Nov. 1 for the whole of business 2007, which ends in March.
For the year, the company forecast pretax profit will rise 9.1 percent to ¥107 billion on ¥1.09 trillion in sales, up 5.6 percent. But net profit is expected to drop 9 percent to ¥66 billion.