The improvement in sales of Fisher & Paykel Appliances Holdings Ltd. ensured that it almost broke-even in the second half. Its sales improved mainly outside the U. S. and Europe. The group is partly owned by China's Haier Group.

It posted a $918,000 net loss for the six months ended March 31 compared to NZ$82.4 million loss posted last year. It generates almost 25% of its revenues from North America. The Company also started manufacturing in 2008 in US to reduce freight and labor costs. The Company also wanted to serves its US customers in a better manner.

It managed to improve its second-half sales in New Zealand and Australian markets. But sales in US market fell around 25%. It expects better sales in April and May but pointed that business environment continues to be challenging.

The Company had sold a 20% stake to Haier in June last year. It helped it to raise NZ$149.2 million. It also helped the Company to relocate production to Mexico and Thailand.

The Company is confident that lower production costs will benefit it from this year onwards. But rising labor, freight and raw material costs continue to remain a challenge for the Company. The shares of Fisher & Paykel rose 1.8% to 56 cents at 12:20 p. m. in Wellington.