TOKYO (AFX) - Electronics giant NEC Corp said its net profit tumbled by over a third in the six months to September as sales slumped on lower demand for cellphones and semiconductors.

NEC reported net profit of 16.4 bln yen for the half, down 34.8 pct from a year earlier, as operating profit plunged some 78 pct to 12.97 bln yen.

'While the domestic cellular phone handset market is maturing and we can no longer expect such rapid growth in sales as we witnessed previously,' NEC managing officer Yasuo Matoi told a press conference.

'We also faced severe price competition in the overseas market as well, and because of stiff price competition, we cannot seek higher sales volume there,' he said.

As a result, the firm slashed its operating profit forecast for the year to March to 100 bln yen from 150 bln yen. Sales for the year are now seen at 4.93 trln yen against 5.0 trln yen previously.

NEC Electronics, in which NEC holds a 70 pct stake, yesterday said it now expects to post a year to March net loss of 20 bln yen, reversing its earlier projection of net profit of 5.5 bln yen.

But NEC Corp left unchanged its net profit projection at 60 bln yen for the full year, as the company had previously used conservative estimates of income-tax expenses, and has tapped into funds originating from sales of stockholdings in affiliate firms.

This is cache, read story here