Kariya City, Japan - DENSO associates' commitment to high work standards and increasing resourcefulness resulted in worldwide financial gains at the end of an irregular 15-month 2001/02 fiscal year.

Globally, consolidated net sales grew to $18.1 billion, up 19.2 percent from 2000's $16.2 billion.

The April 1-March 31 fiscal reporting period, which was first implemented by DENSO Corporation (DNJP) in 1995,now applies to almost all of the DENSO group companies.

"Since DENSO operations have become more global, DNJP decided to move companies to its fiscal year [April 1-March 31] to streamline business processes," said Hisafumi "Kyu" Kato, vice president of Finance at DENSO International America. In Japan, about 80-90 percent of businesses and government agencies use this fiscal calendar.

The switch has enhanced the positive financial results for 2001/02.

In the combined American regions, sales for the year came to $4.8 billion. Strong efforts also paid off in Europe, where sales increased to $2.3 billion, due to the three-month fiscal year extension and a new consolidation of DENSO Thermal Systems S.p.A. In Asia and Oceania, sales came to $1.3 billion.