KARIYA, Japan -- DENSO Corp. has announced its third quarter global financial results for the nine months ending Dec. 31, 2009, including consolidated net sales of $23 billion, a 19.5 percent decrease from the previous year.

Consolidated operating income totaled $855.4 million, a 7.5 percent decrease from the previous year. Consolidated net income totaled $546.9 million, a 35.8 percent increase from the previous year.

"Despite the positive effects from each country's incentive programs, our sales and operating income have decreased, mainly due to vehicle inventory adjustments by car manufacturers in the first half of the year and a substantial currency exchange loss," said Sadahiro Usui, managing officer of DENSO Corp. "However, our steady efforts in reducing fixed costs improved our income ratio and the fundamental direction of our financial results is toward a recovery."

In Japan, a decrease in domestic car production and product exports, mainly to North America and Europe, as well as currency exchange losses led to a decrease in sales to $15.9 billion, a 19.4 percent decrease from the previous year. However, efforts such as a reduction in fixed costs led to an operating income of $149.2 million, a 380.2 percent increase from the previous year.

In North, Central and South America, despite an increase in sales to Toyota, a decrease in sales mainly to General Motors and Ford led to a decrease in sales to $4.1 billion, a 20.5 percent decrease from last year. In spite of cost-reduction efforts, a decrease in sales led to an operating income of $119.1 million, a 14.8 percent decrease from the previous year.

In Europe, despite an increase in sales to Fiat and BMW, lower car production from Toyota resulted in a decrease in sales to $3.3 billion, a 21.2 percent decrease from the previous year. As a result of the decrease in sales, the operating income totaled $61.7 million, a 25.8 percent decrease from the previous year, despite cost-reduction efforts.

In Asia and Oceania, a decrease in car production volumes in ASEAN countries resulted in a decrease in sales to $4.1 billion, an 11.6 percent decrease from the previous year, despite continued growth in car production volumes in China. Operating income totaled $555.7 million, a 10.2 percent increase from the previous year.

"Considering recent trends of car production worldwide and steady results from our cost-reduction efforts, we have revised the full-year forecasts for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010," said Usui. "The future business environment still remains unclear, but we will continue to work to improve earnings."