Toshiba microchips eke Q1 profit, outlook cautious

TOKYO Oct 30 (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp (6502.T), Japan's biggest chipmaker, said its semiconductor operations sprang back to a quarterly profit on cost cuts and steadier prices, but it kept its annual outlook for its electronic devices segment.

Toshiba, the world's No.2 maker of NAND-type flash memory chips after Samsung Electronics Co (005930.KS), said its microchip operations earned an operating profit of 5.2 billion yen ($57.03 million) in July-September, up from a 29.3 billion yen loss the previous year.

The firm, kept its outlook for its electronic devices segment, which includes semiconductors at a 60 billion yen loss in the year to March, while it also maintained its forecast for a 150 billion yen profit in its social infrastructure segment.

The owner of U.S. nuclear firm Westinghouse maintained its forecast for a 100 billion yen operating profit for the full year to next March, in line with the average estimate by 5 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Across its divisions, Toshiba confirmed a quarterly operating profit of 40.3 billion yen, its first profit in four quarters and up from a 4.4 billion yen profit a year earlier. Toshiba said earlier this week it expected to make an operating profit of 39.6 billion yen, ahead of forecasts thanks to faster results from a $3 billion cost-cutting plan. [ID:nT297517]

Toshiba shares gained 35 percent in July-September, outpacing a 6 percent rise in Tokyo's electrical machinery sub-index .IELEC.T. (Reporting by Mayumi Negishi; Editing by Lincoln Feast)