TOKYO, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Fujitsu Ltd, Japan's biggest IT services firm, reported a smaller-than-expected fall in quarterly profit thanks to cost cuts, and stuck to its annual outlook.
Fujitsu, which is trying to shed loss-making businesses, reported an operating profit of 18.9 billion yen ($207 million) for July-September, down from 32.7 billion yen a year earlier and narrowly beating a consensus estimate for a 17.4 billion yen profit.
It kept its forecast for a 90 billion yen operating profit in the full year to next March, above the 70.8 billion yen average estimate of 14 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S and up over 30 percent from last year.
Japan's last maker of supercomputers sold its loss-making hard drive business to Toshiba Corp earlier this month as it focuses on IT consulting overseas to take on far bigger rivals IBM and Hewlett-Packard Co.
Its shares gained 12 percent in July-September, outperforming a 6 percent rise in Tokyo's electrical machinery index. (Reporting by Mayumi Negishi)