Toshiba expected to report 10 pct drop in operating profit - Nikkei

Oct 25 (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp is expected to report a 10 percent drop in consolidated operating profit for the April-September period as a strong yen hurt sales, the Nikkei reported.

The Japanese electronics and electrical equipment maker is expected to report an operating profit of about 70 billion yen ($873 million), well short of its projection of 90 billion yen ($1.12 billion), the Japanese daily said.

Total sales may fall about 10 percent below the company's forecast of 3 trillion yen ($37.42 billion), the daily said.

Toshiba, however, may report net profit above its forecast as it sold off assets during the period and a slight weakening of the yen towards the end of September provided gains on forward exchange contracts.

The company expects operating profit to increase for the full year through March 2013, the Nikkei said.

Toshiba is scheduled to report second-quarter results on Oct. 31. ($1 = 80.1650 Japanese yen) (Reporting by Avik Das in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)