Profit, Sales Flat At STMicroelectronics"

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- STMicroelectronics, one of Europe's largest makers of computer chips, said late Tuesday its fourth-quarter profit per share was unchanged from a year earlier while its sales were slightly higher.

STMicroelectronics reported net income of $183 million, or 20 cents a share, versus net income of $187 million, or 20 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

Sales edged up 2.6% to $2.39 billion. A seasonally strong quarter for mobile handset sales helped revenue, as market leader Nokia is STMicro's biggest client.

Analysts polled by Thomson First Call were expecting the Franco-Italian chipmaker to post earnings of 17 cents a share on revenue of $2.39 billion.

Geneva-based STMicro makes a wide range of chips used in mobile phones, hard disk drives, printers and smart cards.

ST Micro said first-quarter sales will be "significantly higher" than the same period last year, or in the range of $2.23 billion to $2.37 billion.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 25th January 2006