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Article: JAPAN CAR NAVIGATION FIRMS SEE HIGHER R&D COSTS EAT INTO PROFITS.
- Article from:
- AsiaPulse News
- Article date:
- June 2, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Asia Pulse Pty Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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TOKYO, June 2 Asia Pulse - Alpine Electronics Inc. (TSE:6816), Kenwood Corp. (TSE:6765) and other producers of car navigation systems are seeing their profits squeezed by rising R&D costs.
Alpine has earmarked 30 billion yen (US$267 million) for R&D this fiscal year, up 5 per cent on the year and 40 per cent more than what it spent in fiscal 2004. But its operating profit dipped 5 per cent last fiscal year, and in fiscal 2006, it is projected to fall 2 per cent to 9.5 billion yen. This would mark the fourth consecutive year of declines for the company, whose margins are also spiraling downward.
The firm expects car navigation systems to become even more ...