Friday January 16, 02:58 AM
Japan's Hitachi set for billion-dollar loss: report
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's Hitachi Ltd (Xetra: 853219 - news) . expects to report a net loss of more than one billion dollars for the current business year to March because of falling demand for microchips, according to the Nikkei (news) daily.
If confirmed, it would become the latest Japanese company to find itself in the red due to the global economic crisis, which has badly hit foreign demand for key Japanese exports such as electronics and cars.
Hitachi expects to incur a group net loss of more than 100 billion yen (1.1 billion dollars), a reversal of the 15-billion-yen profit projected earlier, the economic daily added without identifying its sources.
The electronics and engineering group would thus remain in the red for the third straight year, it said.
Demand for semiconductors has fallen sharply due to slumping sales of cars and cellphones, making Hitachi's chipmaking subsidiary Renesas Technology Corp. incur a net loss of some 200 billion yen, the daily said.
No confirmation of the report was available from Hitachi.
"The climate for semiconductor business is becoming severe," a Hitachi spokesman said. "Renesas looks like it is heading to weak results, but we do not have concrete figures."
Despite higher interim results, Hitachi in October cut its full-year net profit forecast by more than 60 percent to 15 billion yen because of slowing demand, higher material costs and a strong yen.
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