TOKYO, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp. said on Friday it would boost its dividend for the April-September first half of the business year by 50 percent from a year earlier, a sign of confidence that it will hit its earnings targets.
Toshiba, Japan's second-largest electronics conglomerate, will pay 3 yen (2.7 cents) per share for the six months, up from 2 yen a year earlier.
"This means Toshiba is on track to hit or even overshoot its half-year targets. They seem to be quite comfortable with their full-year forecasts, too," said Yuichi Ishida, an analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities.
Toshiba doubled its half-year operating profit forecast in July to 20 billion yen ($180.8 million) on better-than-expected prospects for its microchip and infrastructure-related businesses, but left its full-year outlook unchanged.
Prices of its cash cow NAND-type flash memory, widely used in digital cameras, photo-snapping phones and portable music players such as Apple Computer Inc's iPod shuffle, are under heavy pressure.
Prior to the announcement, shares in Toshiba closed up 1.07 percent at 472 yen, outperforming the Tokyo stock market's electric machinery index , which lost 0.41 percent.
But Toshiba, the world's seventh-largest chip maker, is rapidly expanding flash memory production capacity at its cost-efficient plant that handles 300mm silicon wafers to compensate for price declines.
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