The mobile phone parts supplier said sales in Asia had grown 156%

German mobile phone moulder Balda has doubled its second quarter profits this year as its business in Asia grew 156%. The company reported on Friday a second-quarter EBIT of E9.8m, more than double the figure compared to last year.

Turnover was up 56% to E87.8m, with the largest contribution to growth coming from Asia, where the figure of E35.2m was 156% higher than last year. It outstripped European growth of 27% to E124.5m. Most of Balda’s 5,650 employees are now for the first time based in Asia.

Despite recent diversification into medical applications, mobile phone mouldings remain core business for Balda. The company claims it is the world’s second largest mobile phone supplier and said it had growm faster in the first half of 2004 than the overall mobile phone market, citing market research figures from Gartner showing a 29% growth – first quarter 2003 with 115m mobile phones sold, second quarter 2004 with 153m.

Balda’s management forecasted a further increase in turnover of between 35.6% and 37.4% for the full year 2004, to between E370 and E375m. It said pre-tax profits could climb as much as 53.5% to E55m.