NEC warns of poor earnings and cuts more jobs
By Edmund Klamann
Thursday January 31, 3:59 PM
sg.biz.yahoo.com
TOKYO (Reuters) - NEC Corp on Thursday became the third of Japan's big chipmakers in as many days to warn of deteriorating earnings prospects, doubling its forecast group net loss for the year to March to 300 billion yen ($2.26 billion).
The company also announced a consolidated net loss of 155 billion yen for the October-December quarter as a year-long info-tech slump further eroded its earnings on personal computers and telecommunications hardware.
NEC <6701.T> had a net profit of 8.3 billion yen a year earlier.
Third-quarter revenues fell 9.5 percent from a year earlier to 1.13 trillion yen.
"These are not circumstances that would allow us to draw up business plans that presume growth," NEC senior managing director Shigeo Matsumoto told a news briefing. "We aim to plot a recovery in earnings via fixed cost reductions."
NEC, Japan's biggest PC supplier and second-largest chipmaker, said it now planned to shed 14,000 jobs, including 8,000 in Japan, in the 2001/02 business year. Last autumn the company said it would shed 4,000 jobs this business year.
NEC has announced plans to cut capacity or close plants in Scotland, California and Japan in a rush, along with Japan's other electronics conglomerates, to slim down operations and confront intensifying global competition. |
