NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Bermuda-based Tyco Electronics Ltd., the world's biggest maker of electronic connectors, said second-quarter profit rose 7.5 percent, beating analysts' estimates, on higher overseas sales. The company said full-year profit will increase more than it previously forecast.

Profit from continuing operations climbed to $302 million, or 62 cents a share, from $281 million, or 57 cents, a year earlier. Revenue increased 14 percent to $3.66 billion in the quarter ended March 28, the Bermuda-based company said in a statement yesterday.

Sales rose at all four divisions, and profit gained at three. Chief executive officer Thomas Lynch is shedding businesses with about $2 billion in sales to concentrate on faster-growing units at the company, which was spun of from Tyco International Ltd. in June. Tyco Electronics gets more than two- thirds of annual revenue outside the Americas and is benefiting from demand for connectors in the automotive industry.

"Connector companies are benefiting from increased connector content and increasingly diversified auto manufacturing customer bases," wrote Amit Daryanani, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, in a note to investors before the earnings. Daryanani estimates about one-third of Tyco Electronics sales come from the automotive connector segment and rates the stock "outperform".

Excluding some items, per-share profit was 67 cents, more than the 61-cent average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Tyco Electronics, which is run from Berwyn, Pennsylvania, fell 22 cents to $37.41 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Tyco Electronics now forecasts 2008 adjusted earnings from continuing operations will rise to $2.60 to $2.66 a share. The company on February 6 predicted profit of $2.45 to $2.55. The new forecast exceeds the average analyst estimate of $2.53 in the Bloomberg survey.