Johnson Controls profit up, to sell business line for $700 million

Johnson Controls Inc on Thursday posted a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit and said it would sell part of its auto electronics business for about $700 million.

The deal to sell the HomeLink product line to Gentex Corp is expected to close late this quarter or early in the next fiscal year. Johnson Controls said it is targeting an announcement to sell the rest of its electronics business before its next earnings announcement.

Net income attributable to Johnson Controls rose 38 percent to $594 million, or 83 cents a share, in the third quarter ended on June 30, compared with $431 million, or 63 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time gains, the company earned 78 cents a share, 3 cents above what analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S had expected.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn])