Western Digital Reports Record Profits for Quarter

Citing increasing sales of its computer peripherals and controller boards, Western Digital Corp. said it earned record profits of $11.8 million for its fiscal 1987 second quarter, more than doubling the $5 million recorded for the same period a year ago.

The Irvine electronics firm reported revenues of $109.8 million for the quarter ended Dec. 27, a growth of 57% over the previous year’s fiscal second-quarter sales of $70 million.

Profits for the first six months of the fiscal year climbed 148% to $20.1 million from $8.1 million for the first half a year earlier. Six-months revenue of $200.2 million was up 47% from the $135.9 million recorded for the first half of the company’s fiscal 1986.

Western Digital said it plans to file a registration statement early next month with the Securities and Exchange Commission to cover two million shares of common stock to be sold as a proposed secondary public offering by a stockholder group.

Western digital’s common stock closed at $23.375 per share Thursday on the American Stock Exchange, up 37 1/2 cents a share for the day.

The selling stockholder party consists of about nine venture capital firms that were once shareholders of Paradise Systems Inc., a San Francisco-area silicon chip maker that Western Digital acquired in November for 2.6 million shares of its common stock, said A. J. Moyer, the company’s chief financial officer.

Western Digital, with outstanding shares totaling 23.4 million, said it does not intend to sell any newly issued shares during the proposed offering.

Western Digital’s second-quarter and six-months financial statements include the earnings and revenue of Paradise Systems, the company said.