TOKYO— Hoya Corporation (TOKYO: 7741) announced a substantial increase in profit for the third quarter and the nine months ended Dec. 31, 2012, largely due to payments received from insurance income resulting from flooding of its Thailand eyeglass lens manufacturing facilities last year.

During the quarter, revenues from all operations increased 8.6 percent to 90,682 million yen, and profit before tax increased 164.3 percent to 17,634 million yen, Hoya said. Profit for the term was up 215.3 percent to 10,329 million yen year on year. Profit attributable to owners of the company was up 217.1 percent to 10,293 million yen.

For the nine months ended Dec. 31, 2012, revenues from all operations were down 4.5 percent to 276,399 million yen, while profit before tax was up 45.3 percent to 59,402 million yen. Profit for the term was up 53.8 percent to 48,003 million yen year on year, and profit attributable to owners of the company was up 54.1 percent to 47,903 million yen.

"Eyeglass lens business is recovering, though the demand for optical lenses and HDD glass disks are still weak," said Hiroshi Suzuki, chief executive officer of Hoya. "What I must do is to accelerate the pace of growth more in Life Care business.”

Hoya reported that its Life Care unit, which produces both eyeglass lenses and contact lenses, generated sales of 37.2 million yen during the third quarter, up 20.6 percent year on year. Operations at Hoya’s main eyeglass lens plant in Thailand were restored completely and the sales were recovered gradually from the effects of flooding in Thailand that took place in October 2011. As a result, coupled with the depreciation of the yen, eyeglass lens sales rose significantly year on year, according to Hoya.

Sales of contact lenses also rose year on year, attributable to the higher volume of sales, reflecting an increase in the number of customers visiting directly owned stores, higher sales of high value-added products, and the aggressive opening of new stores, Hoya said.