Toshiba first-quarter operating profit estimated to double - Nikkei

(Reuters) - Toshiba Corp's first-quarter operating profit is expected to more than double on strong performance at its infrastructure segment, driven by higher sales of conventional power plant equipment, the Nikkei said.

The company is expected to report a group operating profit of more than 10 billion yen for the quarter ended June 30, the Japanese business daily reported.

TOSHIBA (JP6502.TK)in May said it aimed to more than double its annual operating profit in three years by expanding its social infrastructure business and boosting sales of electronics devices.

Profit from the infrastructure segment is likely to have offset a slump in earnings from NAND flash memory chips in the quarter, the NIKKEI (NIKKEI225.)said.

Toshiba, the world's No. 2 maker of NAND flash memory chips after Samsung Electronics, said on Tuesday it planned to cut production of flash memory chips by 30 percent after being caught by oversupply and tumbling prices.

Sales are expected to be down slightly from 1.32 trillion yen ($16.87 billion) a year earlier, the paper said.

However, revenue growth in infrastructure and other areas may not fully offset the decline from spinning off production of small and mid-size liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, the Nikkei reported.

The company is likely to leave its operating profit forecast for the full year to March 2013 unchanged, the paper said.

Toshiba expects a 12 percent rise in operating profit to 90 billion yen for the April-September period and a 45 percent rise to 300 billion yen for the full year.

($1 = 78.2400 Japanese yen)

(Reporting By Vishal Krishnan Menon in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)