Maybe Fujitsu blaming Spansion writedown for poor future profits is why SPSN was weak today -- reuters.com
UPDATE 2-Fujitsu Q3 net jumps, restructuring hits outlook
Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:18am EST
Fujitsu looks to spin off chip operations-source
19 Jan 2008
(Recasts with net profit, adds details, comments)
TOKYO, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Japan's Fujitsu Ltd (6702.T: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday reported a near-fivefold rise in quarterly net profit on demand for its PCs and IT services, but the technology firm cut its annual net outlook by 39 percent due to restructuring costs and losses on shareholdings.
Later, it says,
But writing down obsolete chip equipment and a tumble in the share price of chipmaker Spansion Inc (SPSN.O: Quote, Profile, Research) caused the maker of supercomputers and mobile phones to cut its net profit forecast to 40 billion yen from 65 billion yen for the year ending in March.
That falls far short of a mean estimate of 71.4 billion yen by 15 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.
Fujitsu holds a 14 percent stake in Spansion, previously a joint venture set up with U.S. chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.N: Quote, Profile, Research), and a write-down on these holdings made up the bulk of the 19.8 billion yen extraordinary loss that it booked on its group shareholdings, it said. It also expects to book restructuring charges worth about 10 billion yen.
Fujitsu, which plans to hive off [hive off ??] its chip business in April, posted a net profit of 5.53 billion yen for the October-December quarter, up from a profit of 1.16 billion yen in the same period last year.
While the article is a bit unclear as to whether or not the charge has already been taken, the fact that they are exiting the semi business makes me think they won't just take a writeoff, they will sell their shares.
Petz |
