German chipmaker Infineon posted a lower-than-expected operating profit and a net loss for its third quarter today after it increased charges in connection with antitrust investigations against it.
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) came in at €2 million and the company reported a net loss of €56 million for the June quarter after increasing its accrued charge by €184 million to 212 million.
Infineon said that excluding the effect of the additional charge, EBIT would have been €186 million, easily beating the average forecast of €141 million given in a Reuters poll of analysts.
Sales at the world's seventh-biggest chipmaker were 30 per cent higher than in the same period last year at €1.9 billion and slightly ahead of the analysts' forecast of €1.8 billion.
Infineon shares rose 1.1 per cent to € 9.40 on the Instinet electronic brokerage.
Infineon said the underlying growth in earnings and revenues was mainly due to higher prices for its core product, memory chips, and stronger demand for smart-card chips, and that it expected further income and sales growth in the current quarter.
Infineon is under investigation by the US Department of Justice in connection with possible antitrust violations in the DRAM memory chip industry. It is also being questioned by the European Commission for similar issues.